Cook makes changes to his Wigan Athletic team

Latics boss Paul Cook has revealed his line-up will look different for this afternoon's trip to QPR.
Paul CookPaul Cook
Paul Cook

The midweek win over Stoke – which lifted Latics to eighth in the embryonic table – has left Cook needing to leave some of his troops on the sidelines as they take on the Championship’s bottom club.

He has some injury concerns and other players he wants to keep fresh.

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But Cook is not revealing yet who will miss out to make sure he does not give their opponents any help in gaining a first win of the season . “I’m not telling Steve McClaren and QPR – no! Let Steve work that out for himself,” he laughed when asked which players were likely to miss out.

“The likelihood is it will be a changed team for Saturday, which is on one hand disappointing because the lads are doing smashing.

“But on the other hand it gives the lads an opportunity to come and play.

“Some changes have been forced upon us, possibly one or two are due to the weight of fixtures as well.”

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McClaren’s QPR are looking to recover from a disappointing week which began last weekend with a 7-1 drubbing to West Brom before Tuesday’s 3-0 loss to Bristol City.

But they have strengthened this week by adding Nahki Wells from Burnley and Tomer Hemed from Brighton on loan, and Cook is expecting the pair to make an impact.

“Now we go into the game, they’ll be buoyed by the two new boys which are Premier League strikers, and very good players,” said Cook.

“They have threats all over the pitch, good players on the pitch, a very experienced manager, and we’re in for a big challenge that’s for sure.”