Bruce's Toon target
Wigan Athletic hit the Toon tomorrow with Steve Bruce eyeing up a move into mid-table.
Their clash with Newcastle at St James' Park is a 17th v 18th place battle, but victory could shoot them up the Premier League with so many clubs bunched together.
Just three points separate Fulham in 11th spot from bottom club West Bromwich Albion, one win will be enough to get a decent leg-up the table.
Bruce is looking for a response from his players after Tuesday night's shocking 3-0 defeat to Arsenal's youngsters.
And for him there will be no place better to do it than
at Newcastle, the club he supported as a boy and once turned down the chance to manage.
Said Bruce: "We have got some good players but we have to make sure they start turning good performances into points.
"We think we are five or six points away from where we should be – we are among a big group of clubs who are probably saying the same thing.
"If we had beaten Stoke last week we would have been up to eighth or ninth...you've got 11 clubs separated by three points – it's a tight old league.
"Tomorrow's game will be a hard one for us that's for sure.
"I've been impressed with the job Joe Kinnear has done at Newcastle. They got back-to-back wins the other week and put in a very good performance to beat Aston Villa.
"We have to try and be positive going there, and bounce back from a hugely disappointing night at Arsenal.
"While we were beaten by a very good young Arsenal side, we had a lot of experienced players on the pitch who were disappointed they didn't do better."
Click next page for more ...Emile Heskey hopes to be fit to face Newcastle, the striker missed the Arsenal game with a hamstring injury.
He managed part of yesterday's training session and will have a fitness test today before the squad leave for the North East.
Bruce said: "We think Emile could be in with a shout.
"It's always a difficult one with it being a muscular injury, while the scan showed there's a little bit of soft tissue damage too."
Bruce had the chance of managing Newcastle in 2004 after Sir Bobby Robson left the Magpies, but opted to stay with Birmingham.
It's a decision he regrets with hindsight, one which didn't go down well with his family at the time.
Said Bruce: "I remember what my son Alex told me when I turned the job down – it's one I can't repeat!
"It was a genuine opportunity to manage them but I'd just signed
a new contract at Birmingham and I'd brought in five or six new players that summer.
"I felt that out of loyalty to Birmingham that I couldn't go, simple as that.
"You can imagine it was one of the most difficult decisions I've had to make. I'm a Geordie and Newcastle were the team that I supported as a boy.
"Maybe one day I'll get another chance, you never know.
"But I'm happy in my job here. I'm not touting for the Newcastle job."
Meanwhile, Bruce has confirmed an interest in highly-rated Ecuador striker Christian Benitez who currently plays in Mexico with Santos Laguna.
The 22-year-old international team-mate of Antonio Valencia, is keen on a move in January.
Bruce said: "He is one we have had a look at. We'll see if we can do something."
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Weather for Wigan
Thursday 02 September 2010
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 8 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 9 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South east
