Wigan vs West Brom preview: Championship clash live on Sky Sports Football Red Button
Watch live on Sky Sports Football Red Button and the Sky Sports app from 7.40pm on Wednesday; Kick-off is at 7.45pm
Tuesday 10 December 2019 16:56, UK
Wigan face West Brom in the Sky Bet Championship on Wednesday, live on Sky Sports Football Red Button.
Team news
Wigan defender Chey Dunkley will miss Wednesday night's Sky Bet Championship clash with leaders West Brom through suspension. Dunkley must serve a one-match ban following his late sending-off for a second bookable offence during Saturday's 2-1 defeat at Luton.
His absence compounds a defensive nightmare for manager Paul Cook after Charlie Mulgrew suffered a calf injury seconds before Dunkley's dismissal, with Danny Fox already ruled out until the New Year by a groin problem, leaving Cedric Kipre as the club's only fit senior centre-back. Goalkeeper David Marshall is likely to miss out once again after hurting his neck in training last week.
Baggies boss Slaven Bilic may be forced to change his team for the first time in four outings. Bilic was able to name the same starting line-up for the victories over Bristol City, Preston and Swansea but saw defenders Kieran Gibbs and Kyle Bartley limp out of Sunday's crushing 5-1 demolition of the Swans.
Gibbs pulled up clutching his hamstring and was taken off 11 minutes into the second half. Bartley was hurt in a clash of heads with Andre Ayew and both could be doubts.
Recent form
Paul Cook's Wigan have slipped into the relegation zone recently, unable to improve their woes on the road. They've yet to win away from home all sesaon and have lost five of their last six league fixtures.
West Brom are on one of their best runs of form in recent memory, having won six league games on the bounce. Not only that, they are without defeat since October 1.
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Opta stats
Wigan have won three of their last five home league matches against West Brom (W3 D1 L1).
West Brom won two of their three matches against Wigan last season in all competitions (W2 D0 L1), though both wins came at home - they lost 1-0 at the DW Stadium in a Championship meeting.
Wigan are winless in their last eight Championship games (D2 L6) since beating Nottingham Forest 1-0 in October.
West Brom have won their last four away league games, keeping a clean sheet each time. They last won five in a row on the road in April 2002, a run in which they also didn't concede a single goal.
Wigan have dropped a league-high 18 points from winning positions in the Championship this season, failing to win despite opening the scoring in their last four games (D1 L3).
West Brom's Matheus Pereira has more assists than any other Championship player this season (10). The last West Brom player to assist more than Pereira in a single league season for the Baggies was Graham Dorrans in 2009-10 (21).
Prutton's prediction
I really do worry for Wigan here. The fact they haven't won an away game all season is troubling in itself, but Paul Cook's men aren't having much luck at the DW Stadium either and have lost their last three at home.
The Baggies, however, come to Lancashire in blistering form and will be looking for a seventh straight win, having effortlessly routed Swansea 5-1 at the weekend. This could be a cricket score, if recent wins are anything to go by but I'll go for something more respectable.
David Prutton predicts: 0-2 (13/2 with Sky Bet)
