Wigan Athletic vs Sunderland preview - Caldwell suspended for Latics

Posted Tuesday, January 03, 2012 by PA

Wigan will be without captain Gary Caldwell for their Barclays Premier League clash with Sunderland at the DW Stadium as he serves a one-match suspension.

The defender was shown a straight red card for handling Cameron Jerome's goal-bound header in the 2-2 draw with Stoke on Boxing Day and is likely to be replaced by Steve Gohouri.

Conor Sammon was left on the bench at the Britannia Stadium despite having his red card against Manchester United rescinded and will hope for a recall but Emmerson Boyce (hamstring) will have to wait a little longer.

Wigan are still in the bottom three but three points could lift them out of it, and they will go into the match with confidence having beaten Sunderland away little over a month ago.

They also showed good spirit to salvage a point from an entertaining draw with Stoke on Boxing Day, fighting back from 2-1 down in the final moments despite being a man light following the sending-off of Caldwell.

Midfielder James McCarthy told www.wiganlatics.co.uk: "To come back in the fashion we did against Stoke shows how much we've come along in 2011. There's a real togetherness in the squad with a strong belief and long may that continue.

"Sunderland's going to be another really tough game, they've picked up a lot of points since Martin O'Neill took charge.

"We went up there just a few weeks ago and thankfully came away with the three points. So they'll be coming to our home looking for a bit of revenge and we'll certainly be ready for it hoping to start 2012 in the best possible way."

Sunderland boss Martin O'Neill will make a late decision on Wes Brown with his injury problems showing little sign of abating.

The former Manchester United defender limped off with a groin problem 26 minutes into yesterday's 1-0 victory over leaders Manchester City and is a major doubt, as are full-back Phil Bardsley (thigh) and centre-half Titus Bramble (Achilles/calf).

Goalkeeper Simon Mignolet played with a face mask protecting the nose and eye-socket he fractured in October with Keiren Westwood having pulled out because of the virus which also sidelined Kieran Richardson and threatened Sebastian Larsson's participation until the last minute. Michael Turner, Connor Wickham, Fraizer Campbell and Craig Gordon (all knee) remain on the sidelines.

Sebastian Larsson has urged his Sunderland team-mates not to waste their shock victory over City by succumbing at Wigan.

The Black Cats head for the DW Stadium for their second game in three days with injuries and illness having taken a terrible toll on Martin O'Neill's squad.

However, they will do so having bolstered their blossoming confidence with a remarkable victory over City which extended their return to 10 points from a possible 15 since the Irishman replaced Steve Bruce at the helm.

But having pulled out all the stops to snatch three priceless points at the death, Larsson admits it would be a major disappointment not to build upon that at lowly Wigan.

The 26-year-old Swede said: "Of course it would be, but at the same time, it's going to be an extremely tough game, especially after yesterday.

"It feels like the game is only a couple of hours away, so it is going to be tough.

"But, we did what we had to do and put in a good performance and got the three points, and that's what you need to do.

"Now we want to try to win that game as well. We have put some points on the board and we can relax a bit more and try to play with a bit more freedom."