Tomorrow evening sees Crewe Alexandra host Wigan Athletic in both teams’ second group game of this season’s EFL Trophy – the Alex beating Shrewsbury Town 1-0 thanks to a Ben Knight goal with Wigan beating Wolverhampton Wanderers Under-21s on penalties.
NB: The game kicks off at 7:00 pm, not at 7:45 pm.
This Season:
Wigan currently sit top of League 1. They have beat Rotherham United, Charlton Athletic, Portsmouth, Doncaster Rovers, Accrington Stanley, Cheltenham Town and Gillingham, they have drawn with Wycombe Wanderers and have lost against Sunderland and Sheffield Wednesday.
They were knocked out of the Carabao Cup in the 3rd Round by Sunderland after knocking out Hull City and Bolton Wanderers (both on penalties).
Transfers:
Wigan have made 17 signings this summer – 14 permanent signings and three season-long loans. Goalkeeper Ben Amos (a former Alex youngster) as joined by defenders Jack Whatmough, Joe Bennett, Jason Kerr and loanees Kelland Watts and Curtis Tilt. Midfielders Jordan Cousins, Tom Naylor, Max Power, Dean Pinnington, James McClean and Tom Bayliss (loan) have also arrived while forwards Gwion Edwards, Charlie Wyke, Stephen Humphrys, Jordan Jones and Divin Baningime complete the signings.
They have allowed 15 players to leave on permanent deals, including former Alex players Corey Whelan and Dan Gardner, while Owen Mooney has joined Newcastle Town on loan until January.
Head-to-Head:
Alex Wins: 11
Latics Wins: 17
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, 17th April 2021
Joe Dodoo gave the hosts in the 15th minute before Omar Beckles would be sent off for the Alex in the 70th minute with Lee Evans scoring the resulting penalty a minute later.
Alex: Jaaskelainen; Offord, Wood, Beckles, Pickering; Lowery, Murphy, Evans; Dale, Mandron (Porter 73), Kirk (Daniels 73)
Wigan: Jones; Darikwa, Tilt, Johnston, Robinson; Ojo (Clough 90), Evans; Lang (Joseph 90), Keane (Gardner 88), Solomon-Otabor (Aasgaard 84); Dodoo (Proctor 88)
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 (reply #14) with Tom Reeves the referee, Grant Taylor and Christopher Husband are his assistants with Mark Cunliffe the fourth official. This is the first Alex game that Reeves will have refereed.
