Wigan V Swansea at The DW Stadium : Match Preview

07 May 2013 16:06
Wigan V Swansea - view commentary, squad, and statistics of the game live.


Further problems for Wigan

Injury problems continue to dog Wigan with midfielder Jean Beasejour ruled out of tomorrow's visit of Swansea with a hamstring strain.

Paraguay centre-back Antolin Alcaraz is unlikely to return for the game after being sidelined by a similar injury a fortnight ago.

Midfielder James McArthur may earn a recall after being rested at the weekend but Maynor Figueroa will miss the remainder of the season with a groin problem.

Wigan have yet to beat Swansea since the Welsh club's promotion to the Premier League, with their only point in three games coming at the Liberty Stadium last season.

But the Swans, safe in ninth place, have nothing to play for and the Latics are fighting for their lives again.

There is still some antagonism to Martinez after he left south Wales for Wigan, even though they were a club he played for and were in the Premier League, while at the time, Swansea were in the second tier.

Many of Martinez's principles have been retained by subsequent Swansea managers and there are more similarities between the two.

"It will be two teams with very similar football concepts," said the Wigan manager.

"Swansea have a manager (Michael Laudrup) who has brought incredible calmness and an incredible approach in their second season in the Premier League, which can sometimes be a difficult one.

"You're going to see two teams who play very similar football and next season both are in the Europa League (Swansea as Capital One Cup winners, Wigan as FA Cup finalists). It's a fascinating situation for both clubs."

Swansea will be without top scorer Michu when they face Wigan at the DW Stadium.

The Spanish forward, who has scored 21 goals for the Swans, suffered a hamstring injury in the draw against Manchester City and is set to miss the rest of the season.

His absence means Luke Moore is likely to lead the attack while Ki Sung-yueng may come back into contention after a dead leg kept him out of the game against City. Roland Lamah remains absent as he struggles with a hamstring problem.

Laudrup expects Wigan to come at his side with everything they have.

The Dane said: "It will be a very hard game, I know they have the cup final coming up on the weekend, but we are talking about a team fighting for their football life.

"They will have been looking at the fixtures knowing they have two games left at home and they have Arsenal away.

"They know getting something out of the Arsenal game will be difficult. Roberto Martinez is like every manager, he will be looking at the numbers and he will want six points from their two home games and hope it is enough.

"They will come at us with everything they have."

Source: PA