Wigan v Stoke: brave home side to take crucial point

After a tremendous victory away to Liverpool last weekend, Wigan will look to further strengthen their survival claims by beating Stoke at 17/10 on Saturday.

The visitors, who collected an impressive point at home to title challengers Manchester City last week, are also 17/10 for an away win here, but it should be noted that they have not bested Wigan in their past five attempts.

Four of those last five games have ended as stalemates however, and that looks like the most attractive bet on this game, priced up at 23/10.

Of those four meetings where the teams have cancelled each other out, a 2-2 scoreline has occurred on three occasions, including the Britannia Stadium clash of this campaign, and so it may be worth investing in that outcome again at 10/1.

Wigan have never shied away from a relegation scrap in the past, often securing their survival late in the season in recent years, including a monumental effort to stay up at Stoke on the final day of last season.

Their 2-1 win at Anfield has re-ignited their hopes of avoiding the drop this term too, and 11/5 odds for Wigan to win or draw with three or more goals featuring in the match are highly appealing.

The home side haven’t lost a DW Stadium match to Stoke in over seven years, but only two encounters between the sides in this time frame have failed to produce a goal for both teams, so the 5/6 odds for both teams to score here deserves attention.

Even more appealing are the 3/1 odds about a score draw for reasons aforementioned, and that would give the Latics what could prove an absolutely vital point in their bid to stave off the threat of relegation.

Goals have been somewhat evenly distributed throughout Wigan’s squad this year, but Hugo Rodallega often comes to the fore during turbulent times, and can come good with the opener at 7/1 here.

Meanwhile, Peter Crouch scored the best goal of his career last weekend, and will look to follow that up by breaking the deadlock on Saturday at 11/2.