Newcastle vs Wigan: Home win looks banker of weekend on paper

Newcastle may be enjoying their longest unbeaten run since 1997 and although they should be able to extend this at home to Wigan, they are facing one of their bogey clubs.

Wigan have avoided defeat in their last five showdowns with Newcastle and can be backed at 5/4 to either win or draw at St James’ Park through the double chance market.

Alternatively, it is 5/1 that Wigan secure maximum points and 13/5 that the clash ends all square.

However, with Newcastle unbeaten in their last 11 Premier League games and Wigan on a worrying run of five successive defeats, the obvious prediction is a home win.

Newcastle’s odds are 8/13 to beat Wigan and this looks a great price based solely on the current form of the duo and the starts they have made to the campaign.

Scoring goals is proving a general problem for Wigan, but finding the target on their travels is something that is an even bigger issue.

They have found the target just seven times across their last nine away fixtures and their task will not be made any easier by the fact that Newcastle have the joint best defensive record in the Premier League so far this season.

Therefore, Newcastle odds of 11/10 to keep a clean sheet against Wigan may be the value bet of the whole game, while Alan Pardew’s men are 6/4 to secure victory without their defence being breached.

Demba Ba is also flying for Newcastle of late with five goals in his last three appearances and there is no reason to oppose him in the player markets.

Ba is the favourite to break the deadlock at 9/2, while punters wanting to play it safer can get 6/5 that he finds the target at any time within the 90 minutes.