Tuesday 9th February 2010
The Premier League
Wigan Athletic v Stoke City

Stoke City travel to the DW Stadium tomorrow evening with high hopes of picking up three points that will put daylight between themselves and the relegation fighting pack. They arrive with a total of 29 points from their 23 games played so far. They sit in eleventh place in the Premier League, six points ahead of Latics who occupy sixteenth spot.

The hosts will certainly be ready for a heck of a scrap with Tony Pulis’ team and are anxious not to lose this massive six pointer.

Confidence will be high following their draw against Steve Bruce’s charges at the weekend and will be hoping to get rid of the inconsistency which could ruin their season if it continues from now until May. Roberto Martinez has no fresh injury worries ahead of the game and he may also be able to recall Mario Melchiot into his right back berth. Other than that the team may well be unchanged although there is a possibility of a first start for either Victor Moses or Marcelo Moreno up front along with Hugo Rodallega.

Tony Pulis is still savouring a comfortable victory over Blackburn Rovers at the weekend nut he is reportedly considering tinkering with his squad for this game. Abdoulaye Faye could make his return to action if he recovers from a back problem, while Glenn Whelan and/or Salif Diao could find themselves in the midfield berth. Tuncay may also replace Ricardo Fuller in attack along with Mama Sidibe.

With Bolton Wanderers playing Manchester City at Eastlands, Burnley facing Fulham at the Cottage and a crucial six pointer between Portsmouth and Sunderland at Fratton Park also being played on the night a win is crucial for the hosts who should now have enough quality to edge the game by a slender margin.

Anything else does not bear thinking about!

History of this fixture,

17/08/1982 - Pre Season Friendly – (H) - 0-1

02/08/1985 – Private Pre Season Friendly - (played at Stafford) – 0-0

31/07/1986 - Isle of Man Football Festival - (N) - 1-0 – (Ian Griffiths)

28/07/1987 - Isle of Man Football Festival – (N) - 0-2

10/11/1990 - Division Three – (A) - 0-2 - 12,756
Adkins, Parkinson, Tankard, Atherton, Johnson, Langley, Woods, Rimmer, Daley, (Patterson), Page, Griffiths B, (Carberry)

23/02/1991 - Division Three – (H) - 4-0 – (Phil Daley 2, Don Page, Darren Patterson) – 3,728
Hughes, Patterson, Tankard, Atherton, Johnson, Langley, Jones, Rimmer, Daley, Page, Griffiths B

14/12/1991 - Division Three – (A) - 0-3 – 8,419
Adkins, Parkinson, Tankard, Jones, Patterson, Langley, Powell, Connelly, Pilling, Worthington, (Johnson), Griffiths

15/02/1992 - Division Three – (H) - 1-0 (Bryan Griffiths (pen)) - 5,695
Adkins, Parkinson, Tankard, Johnson, Patterson, (Skipper), Langley, Jones, Collins, Daley, Taylor, (Worthington), Griffiths
(Debut for Peter Skipper)

29/07/1992 - Isle of Man Football Festival – (N) - 0-2

22/08/1992 - Division Two – (A) - 1-2 – (Bryan Griffiths) – 12,902
Adkins, Parkinson, Tankard, Robertson, Doolan, Langley, (Sharratt), Jones, Powell, Daley, Worthington, (Appleton), Griffiths

30/01/1993 - Division Two – (H) - 1-1 – (Andy Pilling) – 4,775
Adkins, Appleton, Tankard, Johnson, Robertson, Langley, Skipper, Jones, Powell, Woods, Griffiths, (Robertson)

24/10/1998 - Division Two – (A) - 1-2 – (Stuart Barlow) – 11,480
Carroll, Green, Bradshaw, Griffiths, Balmer, Rogers, Kilford, Greenall, Haworth, O'Neill, Liddell
(Future Latic Graham Kavanagh and former Latic Peter Thorne played for Stoke City)

27/03/1999 - Division Two – (H) - 2-3 – (Andy Liddell, Stuart Barlow) – 4,133
Nixon, Bradshaw, Sharp, McGibbon, Balmer, Rogers, Liddell, Greenall, Jones, (Kilford 70), O'Neill, Barlow
(Playing for Stoke were future Latic Graham Kavanagh and former Latics Greg Strong and Peter Thorne. All three players scored Stoke’s goals!)

18/09/1999 - Division Two – (A) - 1-1 – (Nicholas Mohan (og)) – 11,195
Carroll, Green, Balmer, De Zeeuw, Bowen, O'Neill, Sheridan, Kilford, (Lee 67), Liddell, (Martinez 57), Haworth, Barlow
(Future Latics Gavin Ward and Graham Kavanagh and ex Latic Peter Thorne played for Stoke City)

26/02/2000 - Division Two – (H) - 1-2 – (Scott Green) – 9,429
Carroll, Green, Balmer, De Zeeuw, McGibbon, Sheridan, (Bradshaw 46), O'Neill, Martinez, Peron, (Haworth 53), Roberts, (Barlow 75), Liddell
(Future Latics Gavin Ward and Graham Kavanagh and ex Latic Peter Thorne played for Stoke City)

23/12/2000 - Division Two – (H) - 1-1 – (Brynjar Gunnarrson (og)) – 8,975
Stillie, Bradshaw, Sharp, De Zeeuw, McGibbon, Gillespie, (Green 82), Sheridan, Kilford, Bidstrup, (Ashcroft 76), Haworth, (Roberts 82), Liddell
(Future Latic Graham Kavanagh and ex Latic Peter Thorne played for Stoke City)

27/01/2001 - Division Two – (A) - 0-2 – 16,859
Stillie, McGibbon, (Green 64), Balmer, De Zeeuw, Liddell, Nicholls, (McLoughlin 74), Ashcroft, Padula, (Bradshaw 64), Roberts, Kilford, Sheridan (sent off 54)
(Ex Latic Peter Thorne played for Stoke City)

13/11/2001 - Division Two – (H) - 6-1 – (Tony Dinning, Andy Liddell, Arjan De Zeeuw, Paul Dalglish, Lee Ashcroft, Jeff Kenna) - 7,047
Stillie, Jackson, De Zeeuw, Kenna, Green, Ashcroft, Dalglish, (Mitchell 86), Brannan, Dinning, Liddell, McCulloch, (Roberts 85)
(This still remains Latics’ largest home league win since relocation to the DW Stadium)

26/01/2002 - Division Two – (A) - 2-2 – (Scott Green, Tony Dinning) – 13,361
Filan, Green, Croft, (Kilford 75), De Zeeuw, McGibbon, Teale, (Dalglish 67), Dinning, Brannan, McMillan, McCulloch, Liddell

04/01/2003 - FA Cup, 3 - (A) - 0-3 – 9,618
Filan, Eaden, Jackson, Breckin, Green, (McCulloch 46), Kennedy, Jarrett, Mitchell, Teale, Liddell, Roberts, (Ellington 86)

14/10/2003 - Division One – (H) - 2-1 – (Geoff Horsfield) – 7,678
Filan, Eaden, Jackson, Breckin, McMillan, Liddell, Bullard, Dinning, McCulloch, Ellington, (Roberts 37), Horsfield

21/02/2004 - Division One – (A) - 1-1 – (Nathan Ellington) – 14,927
Filan, Eaden, Breckin, De Vos, McMillan, Teale, (Liddell 43), Jarrett, (McCulloch 81), Bullard, Mahon, Ellington, Roberts J (sent off 76)

02/11/2004 - The Championship – (A) - 1-0 – (Lee McCulloch) – 15,882
Filan, Wright, Jackson, Breckin, Baines, Graham, Mahon, Bullard, McCulloch, Ellington, (Flynn 80), Roberts J

05/02/2005 - The Championship – (H) - 0-1 – 9,938
Filan, Eaden, Thome, Jackson, Baines, (Graham 82), Teale, (Johansson 75), Bullard, Mahon, McCulloch, Roberts J, Ellington
(Debut for Andreas Johansson)

11/09/2008 - The Premiership – (H) - 0-0 – 15,881
Kirkland, Melchiot, Boyce, Bramble, Figueroa, Valencia, Cattermole, Palacios, Koumas, Zaki, Heskey, (Camara 57)

16/05/2009 - The Premiership – (A) - 0-2 - 25,641
Kingson, Melchiot, Bramble, Boyce, Figueroa, (Edman 81), Hee-Cho, (Watson 58), Cattermole, Brown, (Mido 73), N'Zogbia, Scharner, Rodallega
(Won Hee-Cho made his debut and on the bench (unused) was youngster Callum McManaman)

12/12/2009 - The Premiership – () - 2-2 – (Emmerson Boyce, Maynor Figueroa) – 26,728
Kirkland, Melchiot, Boyce, (Sinclair 47), Bramble, Figueroa, N'Zogbia, Scharner, Diame, Koumas, (Scotland 79), Gomez, Rodallega

Wigan Athletic/Stoke City links,

Peter Beagrie, Keith Bertschin, Wayne Biggins, Charlie Bishop, Darren Boughey, John Butler, Henri Camara, Tomasz Cywka, Tony Dinning, George Eastham (scout), Chris Hemming, Jack Howsall, Jason Jarrett, Graham Kavanagh, Tony Kelly, Mick Kennedy, Carlo Nash, Eric Nixon, Paul Rennie, Colin Russell, Kevin Sheldon, Josip Skoko, Peter Thorne, Gavin Ward

Other Wigan/Stoke City links,

Len Armitage, William Herbert and Andrew Smith all played for Wigan Borough and Stoke City.