Match Preview: Wigan Athletic vs Derby County

Derby County is not an easy match. Only one defeat in their last seven games, that is since the appointment of Steve McClaren. The former Middlesbrough and England manager was the man just shy of beating Owen Coyle in the summer of becoming Wigan manager, you wonder what our season may have been if he had taken charge.

Now though the manager face against each other at the DW Stadium with Owen Coyle needing to get his side three points. It has been a week in which we have destroyed a lot of confidence in and around the team. Firstly a home defeat at the hands of Brighton follow that up with a 2-1 defeat in the Europa League where we are now looking less and less likely to qualify for the knockout stages.

Something has to come good and hopefully it can today.

During the week both of these two sides purchased a footballer on loan from Manchester United. Both with the surname Keane, the Keane twins could be poised to face off against each other today. Will leading the line for Wigan and Micheal as a center back for Derby. That would be a debut be one way to make your debuts for your respective clubs.

Will is more than likely to feature for Latics today. With neither of our current strikers finding the net regularly, Grant Holt not having scored since August and Marc Antoine Fortune only one goal all season, we need someone who can hot the net. Touch wood, fingers crossed whatever we have to do just someone please start scoring goals!

It gets even more important for a win when you look at just what three points would mean to our league position. Should Derby win they would be six points ahead of us and go into fifth places. Should we win, then we could climb into eight above Derby and a game in had to push us into the Play-Off positions.

December really is make or break for our hopes of anything this season. One month, ten games across all competitions. Fail to keep up the pace, then a Premier League return is out the question. It is time for the lads to look deep down and ask how much do they want this? And how much do we want this as fans?

Get behind the lads and push them on, the next month will decide the fate of our season. Lets start the climb today!

Keep the Faith!