Wigan seriously boosted their survival hopes with a 3-0 win at Madejski, but the Latics clearly need to continue with good results if they are to avoid the drop. Liverpool hammered Swansea to make amends for the home defeat to West Brom, but they were eliminated from Europe in spite of the 3-1 win over Zenit in the return leg.

Extremely important victor for Wigan

Many people believed that Wigan would finally enjoy a worry-free season after they needed an amazing run of results in the season finale to survive last term, but it was simply not to be. The small squad Roberto Martinez had at his disposal kept getting even smaller thanks to numerous injuries and suspension, and the team in turn could not break away from the bottom three. Despite all their problems, Wigan continued playing attack-minded football, which produced plenty of goals at both ends, but not so great results. Just when it seemed that the Latics could face problems trying to get out of the bottom three, they produced a stunning performance to beat relegation rivals Reading 3-0 at their Madejski, and thus also restored some of the lost confidence. The return of Arouna Kone from Africa Cup of Nations was just the boost the team needed to turn things around, so the Latics may feel this is the right time to end a seven-match winless run at DW Stadium.

Roberto Martinez has no fresh injury worries, but Ivan Ramis, Ben Watson, Crusat and Mike Pollitt remain in the infirmary.

Can Liverpool make it three in a row?

This was always going to be a transition season for Liverpool, but their fans certainly expected the team would at least enter the race for European places. With the summer signings failing to make a desired impact, the Reds have struggled in all the competitions entered, and if it hadn’t been for magnificent Luis Suarez, they would probably be fighting to avoid the drop now. Club officials did make things right in January, with Philippe Coutinho and especially Daniel Sturridge proving they would be major assets to the club, and we can now safely say that Liverpool probably would have beaten Zenit to a place in Europa League last 16 stage had the two forwards been available for selection. Nevertheless, with the Reds scoring eight goals in last two fixtures, they clearly go into the Wigan game high on confidence, and hoping to make it three victories on the bounce.

Daniel Sturridge is doubtful with a thigh problem, while Martin Skrtel is back in contention after recovering from a knee injury.

Verdict

With Wigan scoring goals for fun at the moment and finally recording that morale-boosting victory, it goes without saying that they won’t be afraid to attack their more illustrious opponents. Liverpool should be able to continue the good scoring run now that Coutinho and Sturridge are likely to return, so we could easily see goals galore at DW Stadium.

Top pick: Over 2.5 goals   1.73 (8/11) @ BetVictor

Alternative pick 1: Both teams to score   1.70 (7/10) @ Ladbrokes

Alternative pick 2: Luis Suarez to score   2.20 (6/5) @ Coral

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