Everton v Wigan Athletic Preview

A twist of fixture computer fate handed Wigan Athletic games against all three newly-promoted sides (Swansea City, QPR and Norwich City) in the first three weeks of the season. Draws against the Swans and the Canaries sandwiched a win over Everton's conquerors QPR, meaning that the Latics were unbeaten prior to last weekend's drubbing at Manchester City.

Since then a total of 94 travelling fans watched Wigan exit the Carling Cup at the hands of Crystal Palace in midweek, and so Roberto Martinez's men come to Goodison looking to stop the mini-rot.

Everton's league record thus far reads P3 W1 D1 L1 - not a spectacular start by any means, although not as shambolic as recent years. Indeed, a win on Saturday would leave us with a reasonably healthy 7 points from 4 games. The performance last time out should also breed optimism amongst supporters. We took the game to Villa and they were extremely lucky to leave with a point.

There is also some good news on the injury front. Seamus Coleman produced a wonderful display on his return to action against Villa last week, John Heitinga should recover from a calf injury in time to feature on Saturday, and Royston Drenthe scored his first goal in Everton blue as the reserves beat Aston Villa 2-1 on Tuesday night.

That reserve game also featured Ross Barkley, who scored Everton's first goal, and Magaye Gueye, who impressed on his return from injury with both assists. Argentine forward Denis Stracqualursi also got ninety minutes under his belt, although by most accounts he will need a few more before he is ready to take on the Premier League.

Louis Saha, however, is not expected to be fit (surprise surprise) and so Tim Cahill will probably lead the line as he did so well against Villa. Also pushing for a starting berth is Greek striker Apostolos Vellios, whose impressive substitute appearance last week very nearly yielded two goals, although I suspect if he is to feature it will be from the bench.

Indeed, the squad is so unusually fit (Saha aside) that David Moyes has the welcome dilemma of selecting his best eleven. One of the spots in contention is at right full-back, where club captain Phil Neville and Tony Hibbert, who played well against Villa, are vying for the jersey. And with Leon Osman, Ross Barkley, Marouane Fellaini, Jack Rodwell and possibly John Heitinga available in centre-midfield, it could be a tricky task to select the team.

Anyway, that's what Moyes gets paid for. And slated for if he gets it wrong. Predicted line-up:

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STAT'S LIFE

Welcome to stat set no. 5 of the 2011/2012 campaign

• Everton's premier league record against Wigan reads P12 W6 D4 L2.
• Blues skipper Phil Neville requires one more appearance to reach 200 for Everton in the premier league.
• Leon Osman and Leighton Baines are the only two Everton players to have scored more than once against Wigan in their Everton careers.
• Tim Cahill hasn't scored for Everton in 2011. His current 13-game goal drought is his longest in six years.
• Everton took 24 out of 30 points from their last 10 home matches of the 2010/11 campaign, but are winless are Goodison Park so far this season.

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On paper this fixture should not represent much of a problem for Everton - but since when have Everton been predictable? We often play poorly against the 'lesser' sides at home and goals may be a problem for a front line hampered by injury.

Despite all that I'm going to predict a home win, with Tim Cahill ending his drought in the process.

StickyToffee Prediction: Everton 1-0 Wigan Athletic