Charlie Wyke and Tom Naylor likely to miss Wigan Athletic's game with Burton

Leam Richardson admits it will be ‘tough’ for Charlie Wyke or Tom Naylor to feature this weekend.
Charlie WykeCharlie Wyke
Charlie Wyke

The pair were ruled out in midweek as the Latics lost to Lincoln City 2-1 and a return for the game with Burton Albion tomorrow seems unlikely.

Although the pair were missed against the Imps, Richardson is not keen to hurry up their return as he knows there will be plenty of opportunities for them to play their part moving forward.

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Instead, he sees it as an opportunity for others to step up around them.

He told the Wigan Post: “At the minute we’re optimistic but it’ll be tough. We’re trying to manage it day by day, we won’t rush them because they are two big players and there are a lot of games for them to play in.

“It’s all tough at the minute, you go from picking form the same XI for six or seven games to then all of a sudden you have five or six out.

“It’s a chance for the lads who have been working hard and training hard to jump into the team and give a good account of themselves, maintain what we’re doing and drive themselves on.”

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Burton travel to the DW this weekend in League One (3pm), with a manager in Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink who is in his second stint as Brewers boss, having won League Two with them in 2015.

Richardson is hoping to have the same length of service with Wigan and feels there is no substitute for longevity.

“There is nothing better,” he said. “ You look around our division at the likes of Rotherham and Wycombe, they have been together for six, seven, eight years.

“With management teams and the players – you can see it doesn’t half make it go from strength to strength.

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“We’re looking for the same. We started in July together with some players and we’re looking for that continuity, certainly that resilience and those relationships.

“We’re 14 games in and the more we can get from that the better it will be.”