New Stoke City boss, Michael O’Neill, oversaw a 4-2 win for his new side away from home at fellow Championship strugglers, Barnsley, just before the international break, and having suffered a heavy 6-1 loss to Germany in the Euro 2020 qualifiers recently, O’Neill will probably be looking forward to his first home match in charge of Stoke this Saturday.
That win over Barnsley at Oakwell halted a run of 3 straight defeats in the Championship for Stoke City and another 3 points this Saturday when they play host to another struggling outfit, Wigan Athletic, would see Stoke close the gap on the teams above them.
Defeats to Sheffield Wednesday, Millwall and West Brom signalled the end of former manager, Nathan Jones’s reign at The Potters, but new boss, Michael O’Neill, will be looking to replicate the kind of revival that Huddersfield Town have enjoyed under Danny Cowley.
There’s still a lot of work ahead for Stoke and O’Neill though, especially at home where Stoke have managed just 1 win from their first 8 matches of the season, so the goals markets look the best angle here.
20th placed Wigan Athletic were handed a third defeat in four matches before the international break when they suffered a surprising heavy 3-0 loss to Brentford at their DW Stadium which has left Paul Cook’s side just 2 points above the relegation zone.
It looks like being another season of battling against relegation for The Latics who have gained just 1 win from their last 6 matches overall in the Championship which was a 1-0 home win against Nottingham Forest.
Although results at home appear to be Wigan’s saving grace at the moment, their form away from home continues to disappoint.
Wigan have still yet to register their first away win of the season in the Championship, losing 6 of their 8 matches on their travels to date so backing the visitors in the straight win markets would be extremely risky.
However, as Stoke City have kept just 1 clean sheet at their bet365 Stadium in the Championship so far this season, Wigan may well fancy their chances of at least hitting the back of the net in this important clash near the bottom of the table this Saturday.