Wigan Athletic vs Bristol City. Sky Bet Championship.
DW StadiumAttendance10,787.
Friday 10 March 2017 16:28, UK
Wigan have midfield issues prior to the visit of fellow strugglers Bristol City to the DW Stadium.
Sam Morsy will complete a two-match ban having been booked on 10 occasions through the campaign. Max Power is also absent due to a hamstring problem picked up against Birmingham in midweek, though Shaun MacDonald (knee) is in contention for a comeback.
Latics have only scored twice in their past five fixtures and will be without Will Grigg, who was not named in Friday's Northern Ireland squad due to a knee injury.
Bristol City are set to welcome back top scorer Tammy Abraham after nearly a month out. The 21-goal Abraham suffered a thigh injury at Leeds on February 14 and rejoined the City squad on Wednesday after being given a clean bill of health by his parent club Chelsea.
Fabian Giefer is available after missing the midweek goalless draw against Burton with an eye injury and could reclaim the goalkeeper's jersey from Frank Fielding. But midfielder Gary O'Neil is doubtful despite having an injection to get him ready in time.
Opta stats
This is the first meeting between the sides at the DW Stadium since August 2002, when Wigan won 2-0 thanks to goals from Scott Green and Lee McCulloch.
Bristol City are looking to record a league double over Wigan for the first time since the 1997/98 season.
The Latics' last three home league games have all finished level, with the last two ending 0-0.
The Robins are winless in their last 13 away league games (D3 L10), since a 4-0 win at Fulham in September.
Wigan have used a league-high 39 different players in the Championship this season.
Since Tammy Abraham's injury against Leeds, Bristol City have scored three goals in five games without him (0.6 per game), compared to an average of 1.4 per game before that (42 in 31 games).
Prutton's prediction
This is a real battle at the bottom. It's really gone wrong for Bristol over the last few months, although they have drawn three of their last four matches.
Having Tammy Abraham back from injury would be a big boost, scoring the amount of goals he has for a team at the bottom is huge. He has been a real bright spark.
Even though results have not been great recently there is a nice feeling around Bristol City as a team, it's about consolidation for them and just finishing above the dotted line. But I think Wigan will win this one.
David Prutton predicts: 2-0 (10/1 with Sky Bet)
