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Wigan relegated from the Premier League last season but they got an European spot thanks to their cinderella FA Cup campaign, where they won the trophy defeating Manchester City in the final. Of course, the relegation came with the price of losing some high caliber players and manager Roberto Martinez, but Wigan managed the situation very well. They still have an amazing squad, Premier League level I would say, and a very able manager in Owen Coyle. Still, the Lactics got off to a poor start in the Championship and they are in the bottom half of the table, mainly due to injury issues. Wigan got a draw in the first group game at Zulte Waregem and is looking for its first ever european win today.
Maribor has a new coach after some poor performances recently and this will be the first game for him in charge. The slovenian team was knocked out by Viktoria Plzen in the Champions League playoffs after previously sending home APOEL Nicosia. Against the cypriots, Maribor achieved a great performance but had a ton of luck to go trough, defending like crazy and counting on big help from the referees in both legs. The point is that the slovenians are a very poor team, the level of quality in their squad is not even close to european standards. Besides this, the visitors are also in very poor form, being winless in the last three league games. They are still first in the standings, but the domestic championship is at semi-amateur level. Maribor lost the Europa League opener against Rubin Kazan, 2-5 at home.
Team news & lineups
Wigan has a bunch of squad problems, with Ali Al Habsi, Gary Caldwell, Ivan Ramis, Stephen Crainey, Shaun Maloney, and Grant Holt all set to miss out. The only good news is that all these players are unavailable for some time, so the team has learned to play without them in the last games. Also, Owen Coyle will not rest anybody for this match and stated that Europa League is a priority for Wigan and everybody is waiting for a special night today. Maribor does not have big injury or suspension problems.
Wigan: Carson – Shotton, Rogne, Perch, Barnett – Watson, Gomez, McArthur – McClean, Fortune, McManaman
Maribor: Handanovic – Rajcevic, Mejac, Trajikovski, Cvijanovic – Mezga, Mertelj, Filipovic, Mendy – Tavares, Fajic
Wigan has pretty big problems at the moment but this Maribor side is so poor that it’s hard to look beyond the super – motivated Lactics today. Even with all the missings, the hosts still have a better team and playing at home in an electric atmosphere should be a difference maker against the slovenians. The coaching change at Maribor could be beneficial or not, we can only guess, but it’s hard to believe that it will make too much of a difference in the first game. Wigan has some problems scoring and this could also go under 2.5, but I`ll take the english side to win this. Constant pressure on Maribor’s box will finally pay off and we’ll most likely see a 1-0 or 2-0 win for Wigan. The Europa League openers showed pretty clearly the level of these two teams in this group. Pick the hosts to get confidence with an important win over very poor opposition.
Pick: Wigan
Odds: 1.62 @ William Hill
Stake: 9
Possible profit: 5.58
Event date: 3 October
Editor Facts
- Rostick is 4 for 4 in October
