Wigan Athletic vs Bristol Rovers | League One Preview
For the 13th time this season, Wigan Athletic take to the field at the Brick Community Stadium as we host Bristol Rovers on Saturday afternoon.
Part One | An overview of our opponents. 🔎
Part Two | “Who to Watch” players. 👓
Part Three | What can we expect from this game? 🏟️
For the second time this week, following a disappointing home loss against Burton Albion on Tuesday night, Wigan Athletic are back at the Brick Community Stadium as we face Bristol Rovers for our 13th home game of the season.
Shaun Maloney’s side ran rampant at the Memorial Stadium in mid-September as the Latics secured a 4-0 victory over Matt Taylor’s struggling Rovers’.
Our visitors were given a late Christmas present as former Brighton Academy coach, Iñigo Calderón, took charge of the football club on Boxing Day.
Back-to-back wins coming into this fixture will give Rovers the confidence they need to seek revenge for their loss earlier this season.
Let’s see what we can expect from this game 👇
Bristol Rovers
Bristol Rovers are in their third consecutive League One campaign after being promoted via the League Two Play-Offs in the 2021/22 season.
The Pirates climbed to 15th last season, after a 17th-place finish in their return campaign, but are 18th as it stands coming into this fixture.
If you would like to learn more about the history of Bristol Rovers and how they prepared for this season over the summer, you can read all about them in our previous preview below. 🗞️
Nineteen games have passed for Bristol Rovers since their home fans were left mightily disappointed after Wigan Athletic won 4-0 on their turf.
That loss was the second in a run of four consecutive defeats for Matt Taylor’s side with Rovers picking up just four wins from then until he was sacked on December 16th.
Iñigo Calderón was named as his replacement on December 26th. However, after suffering three losses in his first three games, with the opponents scoring three goals in each, Rovers found themselves on a run of six defeats in eight games without a win. 💢
The Vitoria-Gasteiz-born gaffer secured his first win in senior football management on January 5th as Rovers beat Cambridge United 1-0 away courtesy of a Luke Thomas first-half winner.
Rovers followed that important win up with a 3-1 victory at home to Barnsley on January 19th to secure just their second back-to-back victory of the season after beating Charlton Athletic and Burton Albion back in early October. ✅
Calderón’s side are now sitting just one place and two points behind Wigan Athletic with 28 points from 8 wins, 4 draws, and 13 losses. Rovers have scored 25 goals, conceded 39, and kept 7 clean sheets.
The Pirates are 19th in the away form table after 3 wins, 1 draw, and 9 losses where they have scored 10, conceded 23, and kept just 3 clean sheets.
Our visitors have only signed one player to their squad over the winter window with former Walsall and Brentford centurion, Romaine Sawyers, joining from AFC Wimbledon on January 8th. The midfielder has over 400 appearances across the top four divisions in England and is available for selection on Saturday. ✍️
📊 Bristol Rovers’ Last 5 League One Results
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❌ Exeter City 3 - 1 Bristol Rovers
⚽️ Goal: P. Omochere (61’)
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❌ Stevenage 3 - 0 Bristol Rovers
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❌ Bristol Rovers 2 - 3 Leyton Orient
⚽️ Goals: C. Martin (Pen: 32’, 74’)
🅰️ Assists: S. Forde (74’)
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✅ Cambridge United 0 - 1 Bristol Rovers
⚽️ Goal: L. Thomas (26’)
🅰️ Assist: S. Sinclair (26’)
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✅ Bristol Rovers 3 - 1 Barnsley
⚽️ Goals: G. O’Donkor (41’), I. Hutchinson (52’), R. Sotiriou (85’)
🅰️ Assists: G. Ward (41’), J. Wilson (52’, 85’)
Iñigo Calderón is still learning which players are going to work best in his system, but a few players are standing out under him so far and throughout their difficult campaign as a whole.
Here are my top three ones to watch 👇
Gatlin O’Donkor
👕 Number 24 | Forward | Age: 20
✍️ On a season-long loan from Oxford United
Oxford United youth academy graduate, Gatlin O’Donkor, is currently appearing in his fourth consecutive League One campaign.
The 20-year-old forward featured just once in the 2021/22 campaign but became a regular over the next two campaigns with 29 appearances in the following season before 20 outings in the first half of the last campaign prior to joining Barnet on loan in the National League for 13 games.
O’Donkor scored twice and assisted once in the 22/23 League One season, but has already hit that same amount in just 16 games on loan at Bristol Rovers during this campaign. 💫
With just 4 starts in 16 appearances, O’Donkor will be looking to prove himself to Calderón as somebody who is worthy of more game time - especially as top scorer, Promise Omochere, is out injured for the foreseeable.
Shaqai Forde
👕 Number 28 | Attacking Midfielder | Age: 20
✍️ Joined on August 30th 2024 from Watford
Shaqai Forde is a player that I thoroughly enjoy watching when he is at his best. In fact, over the Summer I was hopeful that Shaun Maloney could lure the former Watford Academy forward up north.
The youngster’s first test in senior football was during a loan spell at York City in the 2022/23 season where he netted nine times in 20 appearances. ⚽️
After that promising spell, Watford selected Leyton Orient as the forward’s next loan destination where he netted nine and assisted one more in 40 appearances. One of his goals came against Wigan Athletic on the O’s home turf in our 1-1 draw.
Forde has started in 10 of his 20 appearances this season with two goals and two assists under his belt. The attacking midfielder has featured more on the right side of the Rovers setup and has hit the target with 11 of his 13 shots showing how dangerous he can be. 🎯
While a 39% duel win rate (66/150 Ground | 3/25 Air) shows a weakness in his game, his ability on the ball makes up for it as 14 key passes put him third in the side and he has hit the target more than any other player.
Our defence will need to keep tight to him and prevent the youngster from finding confidence in what he can do on the ball throughout the game.
Luke Thomas
👕 Number 11 | Right Midfielder | Age: 25
✍️ Joined on June 24th 2023 from Barnsley
After seven starts in his first eight appearances, including two assists in his first two games for Rovers this season, Luke Thomas fell out of favour under Matt Taylor and picked up just 36 minutes of action across October and November.
A resurgence under Calderón saw Thomas pick up his first start since September against Exeter City in December, making it four starts in his last five appearances. 🤝🏻
An assist against Wrexham in the 1-1 draw and the winner against Cambridge United shows how influential Thomas can be given confidence from his manager, and despite spending so much time off the field he still leads the way in terms of chance creation with 24 key passes to his name.
For context, that is more than anybody in the Wigan Athletic lineup - Thelo Aasgaard has 21 - and nine more than midfielder Isaac Hutchinson (15) who is second in that list for Rovers 🔑
Let’s get the important question out of the way first. Do I think Wigan Athletic will be as dominant against Bristol Rovers this time out after an emphatic 4-0 scoreline down at the Memorial Stadium? 💭
No. I do not. Our home form has been pretty poor overall, despite the stats for home and away games being relatively close - especially if we manage to beat Bristol Rovers, and I expect this game to be much closer now that Calderón has guided them to back-to-back victories prior to their drive up the M6.
Matt Taylor’s side crumbled in our last meeting and allowed the Latics to take 23 attempts, which remains our highest total of the season. 🎯
Four goals is the only time we have added that many to the scoreboard since our 7-1 victory against Leicester City U21s in September 2023.
Shaun Maloney’s has not managed to secure a victory at home since November 26th when we beat Northampton Town 2-1. Since then, Leyton Orient, Birmingham City, and Burton Albion have all beaten us with Shrewsbury Town overturning a 2-0 deficit to secure a point in the final home game before Christmas.
It has been a fact this season that our home form has been nowhere near good enough, after ending last season 6th in the home form table with 13 wins and 4 draws in 23 games. 🏡
A victory against Bristol Rovers on Saturday will help to calm the anxieties of the home support but it will be important to do so in an impressive manner to work on boosting our confidence for the remainder of the campaign.
First off, we have to be defending our box better. The fullbacks need to stop giving our opponents’ wide players so much time and space to operate, and our centre-back duo need to be smarter at not finding themselves stranded up the field.
I was impressed with recent performances from James Carragher and Luke Robinson and I believe they deserve a place on the starting lineup. My back line would be Robinson at left back, Carragher at right back, and a duo of Kerr and Aimson in the middle as normal.
Scott Smith has struggled in recent games after becoming heavily relied upon in a midfield hit by multiple injuries and a red card suspension for Jensen Weir.
Ollie Norburn looked to get stuck in well against Burton but I would like to see him partnered with the more experienced Jon Mellish to try and make the middle of the park a place where Rovers want to avoid.
Our best frontline, in my opinion, is one with Aasgaard in the middle, Silko Thomas and Jonny Smith on the wings, and Dale Taylor leading the line.
Thomas and Smith have to make sure they stay higher up the field in an effort to pin back the Rovers full backs as that will allow us to get forward and try to suffocate Calderón’s side in a manner similar to what we did at the Mem.
Maloney has the luxury of being able to bring on pacey options such as Joseph Hungbo and Michael Olakigbe for the latter stages, with the physicality of players such as Will Goodwin and Scott Smith should we need them at any stage.
I expect Calderón to ask his players to be aware of overcommitment from our full backs as a trigger to release their wide players down the wings in an attempt to gain yards up the field.
That is something that Jason Kerr will need to ensure cannot happen at the risk of putting our back line under unnecessary pressure. Robinson and Carragher will be most effective in defensive areas but also need to be prepared to advance and support the wingers when it is smart and necessary to do so.
Goalkeeper, Josh Griffiths, has made the most saves in the league (97) with Rovers facing the most shots and shots on target of any team in the division.
If the Latics can play like we know they can when the intensity and mentality are right, we should find ourselves in plenty of advanced positions. Then, it’s all about showing our clinical ability again in front of a home crowd that is desperate to be brought off their seats.
Despite feeling disappointed with what I have seen from us at home more often than not this season, I still feel that we have what it takes to get a good result against Bristol Rovers.
A victory will take us up to 33 points and hopefully extend our gap above the drop zone to 12 points should other results go our way.
I think we have just got to go out, by all means, enjoy it, but enjoy it by being f*****’ disciplined here. 👇 (That reminds me of a famous speech…)
👕 Starting XI Prediction: Sam Tickle, James Carragher, Jason Kerr, Will Aimson, Luke Robinson, Ollie Norburn, Jon Mellish, Jonny Smith, Thelo Aasgaard, Silko Thomas, Dale Taylor
⚽️ Score Prediction: Wigan Athletic 2 - 0 Bristol Rovers
Up the Tics 🔵⚪️
🙌 Thank you for reading!
✍🏼 Charlie Keegan / Central Wigan
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