For the first time since October, Wigan Athletic were defeated at the DW Stadium in the league on Saturday afternoon by promotion rivals Sunderland.

Alex Neil's side did a number on the Latics, with the Black Cats two goals to the good at half-time before Ross Stewart added a third late on to condemn Leam Richardson's team to just a sixth League One defeat of the campaign.

Luckily for the Greater Manchester side though they have games in hand on the chasing pack, with the first of these coming on Tuesday night against a Fleetwood Town side who cannot seem to buy a win at the minute.

 

 

 

 

After being 3-0 up in the first half away at Portsmouth on Saturday, the Cod Army succumbed and drew 3-3 so they are clearly quite vulnerable.

How will Richardson line his 11 players up to face Fleetwood though? Let's take a look at how he might do so.

After struggling against Sunderland at the weekend, Richardson could revert to a back three against Stephen Crainey's team.

The 3-5-2 is a system that Richardson has used sometimes this season along with a favoured 4-2-3-1, and with the options they have at centre-back it may be the one that suits them most.

In this line-up, Newcastle United loanee Kelland Watts would come back into the fold to add a bit more defensive steel at the back, whilst Graeme Shinnie would replace Tom Naylor in midfield, although Glen Rea would also have a case for making an appearance as well.

Josh Magennis' place from the very start may be under threat as well after being withdrawn early in the second half this past weekend, and that could give an opportunity to Stephen Humphrys to potentially partner Callum Lang.

Humphrys has scored all of his four Latics league goals in 2022 but has only started six times in the third tier this season, but he could be about to do so for the seventh time if Richardson opts to go for a duo at the top end of the pitch.