There’s just 21 miles between Preston and Wigan but the two teams’ respective results in last weekend’s opening match in the Championship proved to be very different.
Preston North End travelled to London where they were up against a new-look Millwall outfit which had cleared the decks during the summer months with manager, Neil Harris, sweeping the club clean.
Preston were duly handed a 1-0 defeat at The Den but they return to Deepdale this Saturday afternoon to face local rivals, Wigan Athletic, with manager Alex Neil no doubt keen for his side to bounce back in their opening home game of the new season.
Neil will be particularly keen for his Preston side to replicate the impressive run of results that they strung together at home last term which saw The Lilywhites lose just once during a 14-match spell on home turf.
Preston will require the goalscoring exploits of midfielder Browne along with forwards Maguire and Stockley again this season if they’re to mount a challenge for a top half finish.
9 of Preston’s last 15 home matches resulted in both teams scoring.
Wigan Athletic emerged triumphant last Saturday on the opening day of the new Championship season when they registered a 3-2 win over promotion hopefuls, Cardiff City, in what was a cracker of a game at the DW Stadium.
The match against The Bluebirds ebbed and flowed with the lead changing hands until Welsh midfielder Lee Evans popped up with the winner against his compatriots to get Neil Warnock’s (possible!) last season as a manager off to a losing start.
Wigan manager, Paul Cook, deserves the plaudits for keeping The Latics up in the Championship last season in what was a difficutl campaign, but he (and Wigan) were rewarded for their efforts in the final run-in of last season.
Wigan put together a 5-match unbeaten run which included wins against Leeds United, Preston North End (at home) and Millwall which saw them comfortably avoid any relegation worries.
Cook has moulded this Wigan outfit into a unit that’s hard to beat, although greater resilience is needed away from home this time around after recording just 2 away wins all season last term.
Nevertheless, Wigan carry serious goal threats in the shape of midfield trio, Evans, Windass and Jacobs along with forward Garner.
10 of Wigan’s last 15 away matches saw both teams score.
This is another relatively local derby and one which should see both teams score here.