Wigan away to Norwich

Norwich's unbeaten run came to an end with a home defeat to Aston Villa. However, Sunderland's defeat of Reading allowed them to jump above Wigan, leaving Wigan in the bottom three.

Wigan need to pick up some points in the coming games - Norwich, Arsenal, Everton, Aston Villa and Manchester United. Not many easy games there - the critical game is obviously Aston Villa.

Wigan can look forward to the return of Figueroa on Saturday, with Ramis and Caldwell following soon.

Things are at last looking up for Wigan. They should be closer to their full strength side on Saturday, say;

El Habsi
Boyce Lopez Figueroa
Stam McCarthy McArthur Beausejour
Kone Di Santo Maloney

Boyce and Stam have played well in the absence of Ramis. The question is who to play in the centre of defence to mark Holt. Martinez may prefer to keep Jones in defence. A stronger Wigan team should be able to get something from Norwich on Saturday.

Wigan, with a team of squad players, went out of the League Cup to Bradford City on penalties. Last week Arsenal, with a full-strength team, could not score against Bradford City. They will get some shooting practice against Reading this weekend but, with the return of Ramis and Caldwell, Wigan should be able to compete against them the week after.

Martinez, usually so conservative in his team selection, sprang a surprise with the choice of Gomez and Boselli. Perhaps this reflected the fitness of players, the need to spread the load more broadly or even an attempt to freshen up the squad.

Wigan's first half performance was weak - Johnson's foul on McCarthy did not help. Wigan went in at half-time one down.

Martinez does not often make radical substitutions. He brought on Maloney and Jones, and Wigan immediately improved and soon equalised. Norwich scored again but Wigan, even with Di Santo, could not come back again.

QPR gained their first win and Aston Villa achieved a remarkable win against Liverpool. Sunderland and Newcastle continued their slumps. It's very tight at the bottom.

It's a tough weekend for the bottom seven teams;

Chelsea v Aston Villa
Man City v Reading
Newcastle v QPR
Southampton v Sunderland
Wigan v Arsenal

Wigan do have home advantage, although it has given them precious little benefit so far. Anyone who does win their match could steal a march on their rivals. Wins for Aston Villa, Newcastle and Sunderland could even lift them clear of the bottom four.

Other permutations could see positions relatively unchanged. In any event, three points would be a massive boost for Wigan.

And there is ample time for one of the mid-table teams to suffer a run of misfortune and join the strugglers at the bottom.