Wigan Athletic travel to The Valley to face Charlton Athletic knowing that victory could be enough to secure their Championship future, despite the prospect of suffering a 12-point deduction due to being placed into administration.
Meanwhile, the Addicks head into Saturday's encounter sitting a point above the relegation zone with a superior goal difference to their rivals.
Match preview
© Reuters
While everyone associated with Wigan were naturally left deflated when learning that the club had been placed into administration, there is an argument that the turmoil off the pitch is only uniting the players on it.
Although the Latics effectively remain outside of the relegation zone on goal difference, their 8-0 victory over direct rivals Hull City on Tuesday night ensured that the clubs around them must avoid defeats over their closing games in order to overtake them.
The demolition of the Tigers also extended Wigan's return to eight wins and two draws from 11 matches, a run which has remarkably featured 10 clean sheets.
Paul Cook will stress to his players that they still have plenty of work to do in order to avoid dropping into League One, but a meeting with another of the clubs around them is arguably the perfect fixture at this time.
Having witnessed his Charlton side put together a five-match winless streak, Lee Bowyer's opinion may differ to his counterpart in the opposite dugout.
Despite the Addicks managing to remain outside of the bottom three, Bowyer will feel that they need to get at least one more win on the board to avoid relegation.
That elusive victory looked like coming in midweek as they headed into the 90th minute of their meeting with Birmingham City with a 1-0 advantage.
However, for the third time in four matches, Charlton conceded a pivotal goal during the closing quarter-of-an-hour, costing them the chance to sit four points clear of 22nd place.
Nevertheless, possessing a better goal difference than Hull, Luton Town and Barnsley, Bowyer will recognise the significance of avoiding defeat at the weekend.
Charlton Athletic Championship form: WDLLLD
Wigan Athletic Championship form: WWLWDW
Team News
© Reuters
Bowyer must decide whether to stick with the 4-4-2 formation which was used against Birmingham or revert to a 3-5-1-1 strategy which has proven effective in the past.
Home advantage may encourage a similar lineup to Wednesday evening, although Chuks Aneke may be preferred to Tomer Hemed in attack.
Naby Sarr is also in contention to get the nod at left-back, or as a replacement for either Tom Lockyer or Jason Pearce in the middle.
Wigan will continue to be without Daniel Fox, who serves the second of a three-match suspension.
Cook must decide whether to risk Leon Balogun after his return from injury in midweek.
Charlton Athletic possible starting lineup:
Phillips; Matthews, Lockyer, Pearce, Doughty; McGeady, Cullen, Field, Williams; Bonne, Aneke
Wigan Athletic possible starting lineup:
Marshall; Byrne, Kipre, Balogun, Robinson; Williams, Morsy; Naismith, Dowell, Lowe; Moore
We say: Charlton Athletic 1-2 Wigan Athletic
Charlton have shown in the past that they are capable of keeping things tight at the back. However, on the back of such a commanding win in midweek, we cannot predict anything other than a Wigan win, potentially via a late goal.
Darren Plant
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Charlton Athletic win with a probability of 37.23%. A win for Wigan Athletic had a probability of 34.84% and a draw had a probability of 27.9%.
The most likely scoreline for a Charlton Athletic win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.36%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (7.92%) and 2-0 (6.85%). The likeliest Wigan Athletic win was 0-1 (10.9%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.14%). The actual scoreline of 2-2 was predicted with a 4.6% likelihood.
