Tomorrow evening sees Crewe Alexandra face Wigan Athletic for the second time in a month, this time at the Alexandra Stadium, with the Latics looking to complete a league double following their win in Lancashire.
This Season:
They sit in 2nd place following wins against Rotherham United, Charlton Athletic twice, Portsmouth, Doncaster Rovers twice, Accrington Stanley, Cheltenham Town, Gillingham, Bolton Wanderers, AFC Wimbledon twice, Burton Albion, Fleetwood Town twice, Plymouth Argyle, Shrewsbury Town, Oxford United, Morecambe, us and Wycombe Wanderers, they have drawn with Wycombe, Cambridge United, Ipswich Town, Cheltenham, Oxford, Rotherham and MK Dons while they have lost against Sunderland twice, Sheffield Wednesday twice, MK Dons and Lincoln City.
They lost to Sunderland in the Carabao Cup 3rd Round after knocking out Hull City and Bolton (both on penalties) while they lost to Stoke City in the FA Cup 4th Round after beating Solihull Moors (after extra-time in a replay), Colchester United and Blackburn Rovers.
They finished second of their EFL Trophy group following wins against Wolverhampton Wanderers Under-21s (on penalties) and Shrewsbury Town either side of a defeat to us before knocking out Accrington Stanley (on penalties), Oldham Athletic and Arsenal’s Under-21s to set up a semi-final against Sutton United.
Transfers:
There have been no transfers either into or out of the club since the last meeting.
Head-to-Head:
Alex Wins: 12
Latics Wins: 18
Draws: 6
Biggest Alex Win: 4-1 at the Alexandra Stadium in April 1994
Biggest Latics Win: 4-1 at The DW Stadium in October 2004
Last Meeting:
Wigan Athletic 2-0 Crewe Alexandra, 15th February 2022
A Terell Thomas own goal opened the scoring in the 25th minute before Ross Stewart doubled the lead 7 minutes later. He would get his second and Sunderland’s third in the 55th minute with substitute Leon Dajaku completing the scoring 18 minutes later.
Alex: Jaaskelainen; Offord, Daniels, Thomas (Sass-Davies 72); Ramsay, Robertson, Murphy, McFadzean; Long (Gomes 60), Mandron, Bennett (Kashket 60)
S’land: Hoffmann; Winchester, Flanagan, Doyle, Cirkin (Hume 65); O’Nien, Neil; O’Brien, Pritchard (Dajaku 57), McGeady (Wright 74); Stewart
Played for Both:
The following players have been contracted to both teams:
Goalkeepers: Adam Bogdan, Dave Felgate
Defenders: Donervon Daniels, Chey Dunkley, Nigel Hart, Ryan Kirby, John McMahon, Dave McKearney, Dave Miller, Paul Rennie, Sam Stubbs, Aaron Taylor-Sinclair, David Wright
Midfielders: Chris Duffy, Clive Evans, Geoff Gay, Chris Lightfoot, Andy Lyons, Nick Powell, Gary Roberts, Gareth Whalley, Phil Williams
Forwards: Billy Bootle, Ryan Colclough, Nathan Ellington, Wayne Entwistle, Fred Eyre, Bobby Finan, Dan Gardner, Albert Kinsey, Mark Leonard, Bert Llewellyn, Mikael Mandron, Nicky Maynard, Neil Morton, Harold Mosby, Mike Newell, Kevin Sheldon, Paul Tait
Officials:
The officials for this game have been announced here with Ben Toner the referee, Hristo Karaivanov and Abbas Khan are his assistants with Martin Woods the fourth official. The following Crewe games have been refereed by Toner in the last 5 years:
- Accrington Stanley 3-2 Crewe Alexandra (8th April 2017) – Cooke, Dagnall
- Crewe Alexandra 0-5 Carlisle United (23rd September 2017)
- Crewe Alexandra 1-1 Exeter City (5th October 2019) – Anene
- Hull City 1-0 Crewe Alexandra (19th September 2020)
- Swindon Town 2-1 Crewe Alexandra (20th February 2021) – Lowery
- Crewe Alexandra 1-1 Cheltenham Town (7th August 2021) – Mandron
Opposition View:
I asked Wigan fan John Cumberbatch for his thoughts going into the game and looking at the season ahead.
How would you describe the season so far for the Latics?
It’s been better than I expect. Much better!
We started pre-season with five players on the books. Bringing in as many players as we did, and hitting the ground running, was no mean feat.
We’ve stuttered at points but seem to have a resilience I’ve rarely seen of Wigan Athletic sides and can pull results out of nowhere.
Up front.
After Charlie Wyke had his heart issue we brought in Josh Magennis in January and so far he’s been really underwhelming.
Should we go up we have a player, in Magennis, who hasn’t ever really impressed at Championship level and Charlie Wyke who, if he plays again, has never played there himself.
Are there any players that you are missing from this game?
Callum Lang got booked on Saturday to take his tally to 10 bookings for the season so he’ll be missing through suspension. James McClean will also be missing after getting sent off recently.
Missing both of those at the same time is a big blow and needless bookings that have led to that are one of the few criticisms I could have of us this season. Otherwise, we have a fully fit squad.
What would be the team that you would pick for the game if you were in charge?
Amos
Power Tilt Whatmough Pearce
Shinnie Naylor
Massey Keane Edwards
Humphreys
Who is the danger man for yourselves?
Stephen Humphreys came in from Rochdale in the summer and had a slow start.
He’s come into his own since the turn of the year and always looks a threat.
What is the target for this season from here?
Given the result against MK Dons on Saturday and the fact that we have three games in hand on them – if we don’t now finish in the top two we have nobody but ourselves to blame.
