Basement club Wigan Athletic kick-start 2023 with a Championship encounter against Hull City at the DW Stadium on Monday night.
The two teams enter this fixture off the back of contrasting results in midweek, with the Latics losing at home to Sunderland and the Tigers securing all three points away at Birmingham City.
Match preview
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Kolo Toure is still searching for his first win as Wigan boss, with his new side picking up just one point from a possible 12 available in the Championship since his arrival in early December.
The Latics have lost each of their last three league games, including their last two by 4-1 scorelines against Middlesbrough on Boxing Day and then Sunderland on Thursday.
A poor run of form has seen Wigan slip to the foot of the Championship standings with just six wins on the board after 25 matches, but they are only three points adrift from safety with little separating the teams in the bottom half of the table.
Wigan head into Monday's contest with the worst home record in the second tier so far this season, winning only two of their 13 matches at the DW Stadium, while they have also lost each of their last three meetings with Hull, conceding 10 goals in the process.
One ray of hope for the Latics is that they are unbeaten in their last three opening league matches of a calendar year, and Toure will be keen to get the fans onside with a much-needed victory against the Tigers to kick-start a potential revival in 2023.
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Hull ended a four-game winless run, which included three successive draws, when they secured a slender 1-0 victory away at Birmingham City on Thursday night.
The Tigers recorded just two of their 15 shots on target at St Andrew's, but one of those managed to find the back of the net, with Oscar Estupinan tucking away his 10th goal of the season from close range in the 77th minute to secure maximum points for the visitors.
Liam Rosenior has made a positive impression as Hull boss since taking change in November, losing only one of his seven league games in charge, and the Tigers have climbed up to 18th place in the table, five points clear of the drop zone.
Indeed, Hull will be confident of success on Monday as they boast a six-game unbeaten away run in the second tier, including four victories and two goalless draws.
Hull cruised to a 5-0 league victory the last time that they faced Wigan at the DW Stadium in February 2021 and they will look to secure successive away wins against the Latics for the first time when they lock horns on Monday.
Team News
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Wigan currently face an injury crisis in defence as quartet Jack Whatmough (hamstring), Tom Pearce (ankle), Jason Kerr (ACL) and Charlie Hughes (leg) are all sidelined, the latter of whom was forced off with his problem in the opening 15 minutes against Sunderland in midweek.
Curtis Tilt could therefore be joined in central defence by right-back Ryan Nyambe, with Tendayi Darikwa and James McClean set to continue as full-backs.
Nathan Broadhead could be recalled to the first XI at the expense of Ashley Fletcher, who started his first league game for the Latics last time out, while Jordan Cousins and Graeme Shinnie will both be pushing to start in centre-midfield.
As for Hull, they are still without Benjamin Tetteh (hamstring), Dimitrios Pelkas (knee) and Vaughn Covil (ACL) due to injury, although the former is hoping to return at some stage in January.
Rosenior is unlikely to make too many changes, if any, to his starting lineup, with Ryan Longman, Regan Slater and Allahyar Sayyadmanesh all set to provide support in the final third for Estupinan.
Wigan Athletic possible starting lineup:
Jones; Darikwa, Nyambe, Tilt, McClean; Power, Cousins; Lang, Keane, Aasgaard; Broadhead
Hull City possible starting lineup:
Ingram; Christie, Jones, McLoughlin, Greaves; Docherty, Seri; Longman, Slater, Sayyadmanesh; Estupinan
We say: Wigan Athletic 1-2 Hull City
Considering the form of both teams, Hull will fancy their chances of success on Monday and will be regarded as slight favourites to claim maximum points.
Wigan will be desperate to turn their fortunes around but we can see the Tigers roaring to victory and moving further clear of the drop zone.
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Top tip
Oliver Thomas
