Wigan Athletic have a chance to maintain their 100% record in pre-season with a victory at Wham Stadium versus Accrington Stanley on Tuesday.
Stanley were narrowly beaten 1-0 by Preston North End over the weekend, while last season's League One winners scored three times in the second half to defeat Oldham Athletic 3-1.
Match preview
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They played sharp for about 20-30 minutes on Saturday, according to manager John Coleman, but unfortunately, a match is 90 minutes, and Accrington failed to generate enough opportunities over the weekend to merit a result.
That defeat followed some similar trends to what we have seen from this side throughout their recent friendlies, as they looked compact and resolute defensively for the most part this past weekend, while not allowing much on the back end.
On the opposite side, though, they have not created much going forward, scoring and conceding multiple goals in all but one of their previous five encounters.
Their defensive shape was perhaps their biggest weakness in League One last season, conceding the fourth-most goals throughout the campaign, so to collect two clean sheets this month is perhaps a step in the right direction for them heading into the domestic season.
Accy have faced some quality opponents as well, drawing Crystal Palace 1-1, and following that up with a 1-0 victory over Blackburn Rovers from the Championship.
Coleman has emphasised the importance that his team place their passes in the right areas of the field, while ensuring they are in peak condition heading into the season.
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It has often been suggested that friendlies do not mean a lot and that you cannot take much out of those encounters, but if you look at the form of Wigan Athletic in these matches and what they achieved domestically last season, you may think otherwise.
Leam Richardson's men won all five of their pre-season games ahead of the 2021-22 League One campaign before going on to flourish throughout the domestic season, finishing two points above Rotherham United for first in the table.
Although they lost their opener 2-1 to Sunderland last season, Wigan rarely suffered a setback after that, failing to drop consecutive games, earning points in 38 of their 46 fixtures.
On Saturday, they trailed for the first time in this pre-season but found solutions in the second half to come away victorious.
The competition will inevitably be much stiffer for them this season in the Championship, but there is good reason for optimism among the Latics, who look clinical and technically sharp so far in these friendlies, outscoring their opponents 15-1.
Like they did for much of their previous campaign, the Latics have grown in confidence when scoring, hitting their opponents in quick succession, netting three times in under 15 minutes versus Oldham.
That was not as impressive as what they did to the Liverpool Reserves, scoring three goals in seven minutes in an emphatic 6-0 triumph.
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Team News
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Accrington goalkeeper Lukas Jensen stopped Emil Riis from the penalty spot over the weekend, one of the few highlights for them on Saturday, though Harry Pell and Shaun Whalley missed a couple of decent half-chances to equalise.
Matt Lowe and Sean McConville lead the team in pre-season scoring with two each, while Michael Nottingham has three goals versus Wigan in his Stanley career.
Before their weekend fixture, the club signed midfielder Liam Coyle to a contract extension, Ryan Astley, who recently signed a loan deal from Everton until the end of the season, started in defence versus Preston, while the team will be expecting big things from Mo Sangare after signing the Liberian midfielder from Newcastle United.
Callum Lang is having a big pre-season for Wigan, scoring three goals thus far as he, Curtis Tilt and James McClean each tallied in the second half this past weekend to erase a 1-0 deficit versus Oldham.
Tom Pearce has a pair of goals from their opening two fixtures, while the top goalscorer in League One last season, Will Keane, has found the back of the net three times against Accrington in his career, and Charlie Wyke notched a second-half brace versus Stanley on the road in 2021-22 in a 4-1 win.
Jamie Jones picked up a clean sheet in their 3-0 victory against Accy at home last season, while Luke Brennan and Josh Stones, who each signed on free transfers at the beginning of July, will be eager to prove their worth.
Accrington Stanley possible starting lineup:
Savin; Clark, Astley, Procter, Rodgers; Sangare, Pritchard, Leigh, Coyle; Bishop, Adedoyin
Wigan Athletic possible starting lineup:
Amos; Bennett, Tilt, Long; Pearce, Cousins, Edwards, McGrath; Power; Lang, Jones
We say: Accrington Stanley 0-3 Wigan Athletic
Wigan appear to take these friendly matches just as seriously as their domestic encounters, and Richardson always seems to bring out the best in his team, who have played with an edge while possessing plenty of quality in these recent encounters.
Accrington could have difficulty staying with this dynamic and offensively gifted squad who have blown teams away in the pre-season, even without any contributions from Will Keane.
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Joel Lefevre
