City head up to Lancashire this weekend to face Wigan in a fixture between two sides currently in drastically different positions, on and off the pitch, writes Kyle Fox.
With the speculation surrounding head coach Ryan Lowe and their recent run of form, Wigan will be desperate for a positive result from this game. Latics fans will be feeling even more aggrieved after their sporting director came out recently, backed the manager, alongside saying, “We won’t get relegated. Simple as that.” A brave statement to make considering they are in 19th position currently, only one point above the relegation places.
Lincoln will also be looking to improve their away record further and extend their unbeaten run to 11 league games. Their most recent victory over Bradford City came courtesy of a magnificent performance, arguably Lincoln’s best of the season so far. This, combined with their recent run of form, puts them in a great position ahead of this game.
Credit Graham Burrell
As mentioned, Wigan have struggled for form of late. They have won only twice in their last ten games, both victories coming against Burton Albion, funnily enough. The remaining matches saw them pick up three draws and suffer five defeats, scoring nine goals and conceding thirteen.
The Latics are 19th in the league table for home games, scoring just 12 goals (the third-lowest in the league) while conceding only nine (joint third-highest). In their most recent game against Wycombe, they managed only two shots on target, and in their last home game against Bolton, they failed to register a single shot on target.
Jason Kerr has arguably been Wigan’s player of the season and is the club captain, but he is currently out injured. The defender was injured while playing outdoors with his child, another of those injuries that could seemingly only happen to a footballer. Fraser Murray has also been a standout performer; the wing-back is the club’s top scorer and assister. Callum Wright, who scored in the reverse fixture earlier this season, is also a credible threat, with seven goal contributions so far this campaign. Former Imp Joe Taylor is always a danger, as we know all too well—he currently sits on ten goals across spells with Huddersfield and Wigan this season. He is one to keep an eye on after scoring in the recent chaotic 3–3 draw between Wigan and Doncaster, as well as netting against Lincoln when Huddersfield knocked us out of the EFL Trophy. Sam Tickle is also a brilliant keeper for this level and Wigan have done very well to still have him at the football club. He will be tough to beat this afternoon.
Lincoln Form
The Imps remained unbeaten in style on Tuesday against Bradford; back-to-back wins will instil great confidence in the team for their journey up to the Brick Community Stadium.
Freddie Draper is a threat going into this game; his performances are improving every game and he is causing problems for every defence he faces. He has backed it up with goal contribtuions now too, with three G/A in as many games. Alongside him, another player who is a danger and full of confidence is Jack Moylan, with three goals in his last two games.
Team News
Lincoln look much stronger in terms of squad depth going into this fixture. The confirmed returns of Tom Bayliss and Ben House, who both came back on Tuesday night (with House also chipping in with a goal), will be a boost. Deji Elerewe will be fighting for a place in the squad, as will new signing Ryan One.
Adam Jackson, Oscar Thorn, and Josh Honohan are all still out injured. Thorn appears to be the closest of the three to a return, with Jackson not too far behind. Honohan’s situation remains rather unclear.
Apart from Kerr, there do not appear to be any fresh injury concerns for the Latics. The main question will be who starts in certain positions. Ryan Lowe has been switching his midfield around recently, so it will be interesting to see which line-up he opts for. There are nailed-on starters such as Murray and Wright, but beyond those few select players, it is difficult to predict who will start.
Wigan Athletic Predicted XI
Tickle, Aimson, Fox, Carragher, Smith, Wright, Murray, Moxon, Rodrigues, Taylor, Saydee.
Previous meetings
The meeting between these two sides in September was intense. Two red cards and four goals made for a game in which Wigan were very good. They rank among the better teams to have visited Sincil Bank so far this season. They may well have been the better side overall on the day, although that is up for debate. Rob Street saw red after two yellow-card offences, while Christian Saydee was sent off for a poor, slightly late challenge on Tom Bayliss.
The two meetings last season also ended in draws. The game at Wigan saw James Collins rescue a point after scoring the follow-up to his missed penalty. The previous meeting was a 0–0 draw at the LNER Stadium, a 12:30pm kick-off that lacked much of note apart from defensive rigidity from both sides.
The last victory in a meeting between the two teams came when Wigan beat us 2–1 in 2024, near the end of the season when we needed another win to push ourselves into the play-off positions. It was a game that saw a goal, one that could easily have stood, disallowed.
Prediciton
This should be another fixture that is very tightly contested between two teams that are hard to break down and are also happy without having much possession (Wigan rank 23rd and Lincoln 24th for average possession in League One).
However, Lincoln are the more prolific scorers, which will likely see Wigan rely on their very solid defensive structure to try to keep them out as much as possible.
My prediction is Wigan Athletic 0–1 Lincoln City.