Football – England – Championship
Monday 22nd September 2014 – Kickoff: 1945hrs
In the only Monday night fixture of the Championship, Wigan Athletic will be looking forward to returning to home turf when they host Ipswich Town at their DW Stadium after back-to-back away matches.
A 1-3 defeat away at Lancashire rivals Blackburn Rovers was followed by a point at Huddersfield Town in a 0-0 draw, but the DW Stadium is where The Latics have been most successful so far this campaign as they’ve put together an overall home record of 2-1-0 7/2 despite currently sitting in the bottom half of the division in 17th place.
A 2-2 draw with Reading was then followed up with wins over Blackpool 1-0 and a 4-0 thrashing of Birmingham City, and they’ll be looking again for further points tonight and perhaps a third clean sheet on the trot.
Wigan have also been boosted by recent signings Adam Forshaw and former Manchester City attacking midfielder Emyr Huws, and along with Callum McManaman (4 goals), they should provide plenty of goalscoring opportunities.
Visitors Ipswich Town go into tonight’s fixture on the back of two wins on the trot over Millwall and Brighton (both by 2-0 margins and both at Portman Road), but their current mid-table position is largely owed to their form at home where they’ve won three of their first four.
However, Ipswich’s away form has been less impressive with a 0-1 defeat at Reading and then draws at Birmingham City and Derby County, and the Tractor Boys may well have their work cut out at the DW Stadium tonight if they’re to get anything from this match given Wigan’s strong record there.
Ipswich Town’s away record stands at 0-2-1 3/4.
Daryl Murphy and David McGoldrick are the main goal threats up front for the visitors, but if Wigan can keep them quiet, they have every chance of walking away with the points tonight and improve their current record of just two defeats from their last eighteen at the DW. I’ll give the quarter ball on the hosts here, but Wigan could edge this one perhaps 2-1.
Pick: Wigan Athletic AH-0.25 @ 1.79 Bet Victor
