It looks like being another long and tough battle against relegation in this season’s Championship for Saturday’s hosts, Wigan Athletic, as they prepare for the visit of Brentford to their DW Stadium for this important clash.
Wigan Athletic once again find themselves in familiar territory as The Latics currently occupy 20th place on the Championship ladder and just 3 points above third from bottom, Middlesbrough, ahead of this weekend’s action in the second tier.
Recent results overall have been fairly ordinary for Wigan too as the hosts have managed to record just 1 win out of their last 5 matches which, nevertheless, was an impressive 1-0 home win against Nottingham Forest, but defeats to Sheffield Wednesday, Derby County and Swansea City have prevented The Latics from pulling further away from the bottom three.
However, results at their DW Stadium this season give the hosts plenty of encouragement as they’ve recorded all 4 of their wins on home turf with victories against Cardiff City, Charlton Athletic, Birmingham City and Nottingham Forest.
The fact remains though that Wigan are in the lower reaches of the division for a reason and perhaps the goals (or lack of) market should be explored here - 5 of Wigan’s home matches have resulted in under 2.5 goals.
For a side that have tended to struggle on the road in the Championship, Brentford appear to be making a better fist of things this season on their travels as the London club have won 4 of their 8 matches away from home so far this term.
Inconsistency continues to hinder Brentford’s progress though and The Bees are seemingly stuck treading water in mid-table of the Championship despite recording a 3-match winning streak with recent wins against Millwall, Swansea City and QPR.
Strangely enough, 4 of Brentford’s 6 league wins to date have been achieved on the road but the visitors have also suffered 4 defeats on their travels too, so backing Brentford in the straight win market would seem risky.
Instead, as they possess the fourth best defensive record away from home in the Championship to date, it may be best to delve into the goals markets as 5 of Brentford’s 8 away matches have also resulted in under 2.5 goals.
Wigan have been fairly solid at home and are a hard team to break down and beat at the DW Stadium, so goals may be hard to come by here.