After the disappointment of only getting a draw at Sunderland, Wigan Athletic can get things back on track with the visit of Stoke City to the DW Stadium this Tuesday.

Latics were again unlucky not to get full points at Sunderland, but that has to be put behind them as the thugs from Stoke hit town. Figueroa struck an awesome goal in the 2-2 draw at the Britannia Stadium that should be a contender for goal of the season.

The talented left back will start on Tuesday as well, but it is what Martinez does up front that will show his intent. Will he adopt a more attacking system, maybe with up to three strikers on the pitch, or will he play it safe with his usual line up. The only problem with the usual line up is the lack of goals and lack of ability to kill games off when they do score.

I think that over the last couple of games the team has started to look like it can tick, there has been a lot of games lately that we were wondering if anybody had actually met each other in Latics changing room, so bad were some of the plays. Caldwell was an excellent acquisition whilst McCarthy is essentially a new player since his performance against Hull has warranted him a regular first team place.

The decisions that have to be made are whether the gaffer is going to give starts to Moses or Moreno. Stoke are not a team that scare easy, but they are susceptible to speed, passing and set pieces. If we can get a good start against them we should be able to get the team back to winning ways again.

We have no fresh injury worries and we could even see Melchiot back in the fray. Stoke also have a full team to pick from as Faye returns from a back problem. Tony Pulis’ boys are doing quite well off their ‘kick lumps out of ‘em tactics, lying on 29 points they are looking quite comfortable in mid table, they might not be pretty, but they have the points on the board.

Latics will have to be at the passing best, to avoid the crunches, Gomez especially was picked on at the Britannia and it just depends on the referee how much they will get away with. There is no doubt that we dominate this game, but it is now time for a striker to stamp him name on the season and get the goals that will put these games safe, I think it will more likely be Moses that will take the gauntlet, hopefully with a brace in the first 20.

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For all previous results between Wigan Athletic and Stoke City Click Here

Current League Positions

	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts	Pos
Stoke City	23	7	8	8	22	26	-4	29	11th
Wigan Athletic	23	6	5	12	25	48	-23	23	16th

Recent Record

Latics	W	D	L	F	A	GD
Last 8 Games	1	3	4	8	14	-6

 

Potters	W	D	L	F	A	GD
Last 8 Games	2	3	3	9	9	0

Foul Play

Latics

Potters

Games 09/10	Yellow Cards	Red Cards	Games 09/10	Yellow Cards	Red Cards
26	34	1	26	47	1
Average	1.31	0.04	Average	1.81	0.04

This Weekend In History

Wigan games from this week in years gone by, click the scores for more:

	OPPONENTS	GROUND	RES	ATT.
01-02	Colchester United	Layer Road	2-0	3,275
90-91	Stoke City	Springfield Park	3-0	3,728
83-84	Sheffield United	Springfield Park	3-0	5,079
78-79	Northampton Town	County Ground	4-2	2,275

Fixtures

Tuesday 9th February 2010

Fulham	v	Burnley
Manchester City	v	Bolton Wanderers
Portsmouth	v	Sunderland

Wednesday 10th February 2010

Arsenal	v	Liverpool
Aston Villa	v	Manchester United
Blackburn Rovers	v	Hull City
Everton	v	Chelsea
West Ham United	v	Birmingham City
Wolverhampton Wanderers	v	Tottenham Hotspur