Saturday 6th February 2010
The Premier League
Sunderland v Wigan Athletic

Wigan Athletic travel to the Stadium of Light to take on fellow relegation strugglers Sunderland tomorrow.

Hopes are high that the Blues can complete their first league double of the season and manager, Roberto Martinez is planning on letting at least one, and possibly both, of his new signings to do the honours.

The team will be anxious to put the ignominious FA Cup defeat against Notts County behind them and former manager Steve Bruce may find that it is his team who will suffer for it.

Martinez is no doubt going to ring the changes and chances are that one of the front two will be replaced by either Victor Moses or Marcelo Moreno. Mario Melchiot is likely to return to his right back berth but goalkeeper Chris Kirkland is still missing.

Steve Bruce will be without the services of Anton Ferdinand, John Mensah and Keiran Richardson, a player Bruce tried to dump on Latics during his failed attempts to sign Latics left back Maynor Figueroa. The downside for the visitors is the fact that Bruce can call on the services of former Latic Lee Cattermole, who will either control the midfield from start to finish, or get sent off!

The Black Cats have not won a league game since 21st of November and will be anxious to put a stop to the rot. The three points on offer tomorrow would see either team sneak a little closer to Premier League safety and should Latics get them they also have a game in hand.

With Stoke City at home being Latics’ next game on Tuesday, the Blues could be in mid table should they win these two ‘winnable games’ over the next few days.

Here’s hoping.

History of this fixture.

10/10/1987 - Division Three (A) - 1-4 – (Paul Jewell) – 13,974
Redfern, Butler, Beesley, Hamilton, Cribley, (Knowles), Holden, Storer, Thompson, Hilditch, Jewell, Griffiths, (Ainscow)

12/03/1988 - Division Three (H) - 2-2 – (Paul Cook, Steve Senior) – 6,949
Hughes, Atherton, Kennedy, Hamilton, McEwan, Beesley, Thompson D, Campbell, (Butler), Hilditch, Jewell, Cook, (Griffiths)

10/04/1988 – Mercantile Credit Football League Centenary (WEM) – 0-0 (Latics won 2-1 on pens)

03/12/2003 - Division One (A) - 1-1 – (Jason De Vos) – 22,167
Filan, Rogers, Breckin, Jackson, (De Vos 45) (sent off 81), Eaden, McCulloch, Bullard, Jarrett, (Lawrence 83), Liddell, Ellington, Roberts, (Teale 59)
(Debut for Alan Rogers)

24/04/2004 - Division One (H) - 0-0 -11,360
Filan, Eaden, Breckin, De Vos, Baines, Teale, Jarrett, Bullard, Mahon, (McCulloch 71), Ellington, Roberts J

28/08/2004 - The Championship (A) - 1-1 – (Jason Roberts) – 26,330
Filan, Wright, Breckin, Jackson, Baines, Teale, Bullard, Frandsen, McCulloch, Ellington, Roberts J

05/04/2005 - The Championship (H) - 0-1 – 20,745
Filan, Eaden, Wright, Breckin, Baines, Teale, Wright, Breckin, Baines, Teale, (Jarrett 64), Kavanagh, Bullard, Mahon, (Ormerod 45), Roberts J , Ellington

27/08/2005 - The Premiership (H) - 1-0 (Jason Roberts (pen)) - 17,223
Pollitt, Chimbonda, Henchoz, (Jackson, 86), De Zeeuw, Baines, Taylor, Kavanagh, (Mahon, 70), Francis, Bullard, Roberts, McCulloch
(Jason Roberts' scored Latics first ever 'top flight' goal, which is also Latics' first 'top flight' penalty scored in Latics' first ever 'top flight' victory)

11/03/2006 - The Premiership (A) - 1-0 – (Henri Camara) – 31,194
Filan, Chimbonda, Scharner, De Zeeuw, Baines, Teale, (Thompson 58), Kavanagh, (Ziegler 63), Bullard, McCulloch, Camara, (Johansson,82), Roberts

05/01/2007 - FA Cup, 3 (A) - 3-0 - (Paul Scharner, David Cotterill, Paul McShane (og)) – 20,821
Pollitt, Boyce, Granqvist, Scharner, Kilbane, Taylor, (Cotterill), Skoko, Olembe, Koumas, Sibierski, (Aghahowa), Heskey, (Brown)
(Former Latics players Graham Kavanagh and David Connolly played for Sunderland)

18/08/2007 - The Premiership – (H) - 3-0 – (Emile Heskey, Denny Landzaat (pen), Antoine Sibierski (pen)) – 18,639
Kirkland, Melchiot, Bramble, Granqvist, Kilbane, Valencia, Scharner, (Brown, 83 ), Landzaat, Koumas, Heskey, (Folan, 78 ), Sibierski, (Aghahowa, 76) Michael Brown's first game for Latics
(Former Latic David Connolly was an unused substitute for Sunderland)

09/02/2008 - The Premiership (A) - 0-2 – 43,600
Kirkland, Melchiot, (Koumas 46), Boyce, Scharner, Kilbane, Valencia, Palacios, Brown, Taylor, (Olembe 56), Heskey, (Bent 68), King

13/09/2008 - The Premiership (H) - 1-1 – (Amr Zaki) – 18,015
Kirkland, Melchiot. Boyce, Bramble, Figueroa, Valencia, Palacios, (Kapo 68), Cattermole, (sent off 86), Kilbane, (Koumas 56), Heskey, Zaki, (Scharner 90)
(Former Latic Pascal Chimbonda played for Sunderland)

14/03/2009 – The Premiership – (A) – 2-1 – (Ben Watson, Charles N’Zogbia) – 39,256
Kirkland, Melchiot, Boyce, Bramble, Figueroa, Scharner, Valencia, Watson, Brown, N’Zogbia, Mido, (Zaki 64)

28/11/2009 – The Premiership – (H) – 1-0 – (Hugo Rodallega) – 20, 447
Kirkland, Melchiot, Boyce, Bramble, Figueroa, N’Zogbia, Diame, Thomas, Scharner, Scotland, (Gomez 55), Rodallega

Wigan Athletic/Sunderland links

Peter Beagrie, Steve Bruce, Keith Bertschin, Eric Black, Lee Cattermole, Pascal Chimbonda, David Connolly, Terry Cooke, Alan Crompton, Paul Durrant, Wayne Entwistle, David Hamilton, Joe Hinnigan, Graham Kavanagh, Alan Kennedy, Kevin Kilbane, Jamie Lawrence, Chris Makin, Andy Marriott, Ian Patterson, Mike Pollitt, Nigel Spink, Emerson Thome

Other Wigan/Sunderland links,

Arthur Welsby played for Wigan Borough and Sunderland.

Did you know? – that on Boxing Day 1999 former Latics and Sunderland star Emerson Thome was part of the Chelsea team that beat Southampton 2-1 at the Dell? The amazing thing about that day was the fact that Chelsea's team consisted of ALL foreign players and they became the first such team to play a League game in the history of the English Football League.