Home and away form will marry up eventually - Wigan Athletic chief

Because assistant boss Leam Richardson insists the philosophy remains the same regardless of whether the team is at home or away.

The midweek draw against Swansea means Latics have picked up a mighty 14 points from their six matches on home soil. On the road it’s been slimmer pickings, with only one win and four defeats from five outings.

But with some fans questioning a perceived negativity of the side on the road, Richardson has a simple message – ‘we’re not doing anything different’!

“I think if fans have watched the games they’d be able to answer a lot of their own questions,” he told the Wigan Post.

“They’ll have seen the way our team sets up, and they’ll have seen how we approach every game – whether it’s Bournemouth, Southend, Manchester City.

“We do set up to try to win games, and it doesn’t change depending on the opposition.

“We try to let our lads express themselves, and we haven’t been far away in the away games we have lost.

“We lost to a dubious goal at QPR, a dubious penalty at Norwich...it’s not all about the approach or the mentality at all.

“Obviously we’re aware of aspects of our play we’d like to improve – we’d obviously like to be scoring a few more goals.

“But we’ll keep working hard and keep plugging away, and I’m sure the away form and home form will marry up eventually.”

Will Grigg is expected to return to the starting XI for the first time in four matches at Deepdale, with Callum McManaman also pushing for a start after an impressive cameo off the bench in midweek against Swansea.