Emmerson Boyce: Pressure on Wigan Athletic ahead of Luton Town crunch

Boyce, who started his career with the Hatters before moving on to Crystal Palace and then Wigan, with whom he won the FA Cup, will be an interested spectator inside the stadium.

And he reckons Latics – who go into the game three points clear of the drop zone, on the back of three wins inside a week – will be under slightly more pressure, as the side with more to lose.

“Wigan have won three games and have done really well pushing them out of the bottom three,” Boyce acknowledged.

“I watched them at the weekend at West Brom, and they had a fantastic performance and got a result.

“After beating West Brom, people will be expecting them to win, whereas Luton are stuttering, people have written them off quite a lot already.

“There’ll be huge pressure on Wigan in terms of getting a result, avoiding defeat and pulling away from the relegation zone.

“But Luton can go into the game knowing if they win, they can pull them right back into it, so it’s going to be an interesting game.

“I’m going down myself at the weekend, and I guess whoever can hold their nerves will walk away with the points.

“Tactics will be a major factor, but which team is braver?

“This is the home straight now, and fingers crossed both of them can get out of trouble, difficult as it might seem.”

The presence in the Luton technical area of Graeme Jones – Wigan’s FA Cup-winning assistant manager, and still the holder of the club record for most goals in a season – will add extra spice.

And Boyce feels Jones’ experience of relegation dogfights with Latics will help the Hatters in their battle against an immediate return to League One.

“I think Graeme’s teams are how Wigan were under (Roberto) Martinez – frustrating one week and then have a magnificent performance the week after,” Boyce said.

“With Graeme’s experience, I’m sure he’ll say, if a Wigan team that everyone wrote off can go out and beat the top teams, then Luton should be going into games thinking we’ve got a chance of beating them.

“I think he will use that as motivation, from his own experience, not to over-panic and be calm, go about his business slowly and surely, one game at a time.”

Latics are looking to avenge a 2-1 reversal at Kenilworth Road in December, when the hosts scored two late goals – the equaliser coming from another Wigan old-boy, Callum McManaman – to turn the game on its head.

“Obviously Luton walked away with the points in the last game, and it will be very interesting at the DW,” Boyce told Luton Today, sister publication of the Wigan Post.

“I thought Wigan were the better side at Kenilworth Road, but Luton came through in the second half.

“It’s going to be very, very difficult, the DW is a hard place for many a team to go to and get a result.

“But Graeme is going back and Callum McManaman is going back as well.

“I’ll go 2-2, I want to see a few goals, and a last-minute equaliser from somebody.”

Boyce also picked out one of his successors with the Latics armband as a key man this weekend.

“(Sam) Morsy, he for me is a fantastic player,” Boyce added.

“Everything seems to go through him when Wigan are playing well.”