Sky Sports’ Championship expert David Prutton has praised Wigan Athletic for pulling off a ‘huge’ win against Sheffield Wednesday during the week, but doubts the Latics can pull off a repeat shock to beat Leeds United on Saturday.
A Wigan win this weekend when Paul Cook’s side travel to West Yorkshire would be a surprise for Prutton, as the DW Stadium natives upset the odds the last time they played at Elland Road by winning 2-1.
United enjoyed 77 per cent of the possession last April and fashioned an astonishing 38 shots, per WhoScored data, but we could only direct ten of those on target and only one was able to beat Christian Walton.
We even struck ten efforts and a fifth of our on-target shots in the final 15 minutes of play on Good Friday, but went on to lose as the wheels fell off our automatic promotion bid.
Marcelo Bielsa may have feared the wheels falling off again on Tuesday night when we fell 2-0 down at home to Millwall, but the boss was able to orchestrate a comeback that Prutton has lauded as being brilliant.
“What a result that was for Leeds against Millwall!” Prutton noted in his column for Sky Sports. “They have struggled for results lately and at 2-0 down, you feared the worst, but they bounced back brilliantly and are now top of the table again!
“Wigan claimed a huge win themselves against Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday night, but need to keep it going if they want to get out of trouble. They claimed a famous win at Elland Road last season, but I can’t see lightning striking twice.”
What will the result be vs Wigan?
Win
Draw
Loss
Wigan will arrive at Elland Road this time around having won twice in their last 17 Championship fixtures, although those two wins have come in the Latics’ last four games.
Cook’s side’s victory over Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday night saw the DW Stadium outfit win having taken 17 shots to Gary Monk’s Owls’ nine, but only five of the host’s efforts were on target.
We, meanwhile, came back to beat Millwall having taken 16 shots in the second half alone, with seven of those hits forcing Bartosz Bialkowski into action.
Bielsa may need to have the side playing as dominantly as that against Wigan on Saturday if we are to maintain our top-of-the-table position.
In other Leeds United news, Bielsa has been backed to field a 31-year-old against Wigan in what would be a ‘difficult’ call.