Huge defensive conundrum for Wigan Athletic

The Germany-born Nigeria international pulled up lame with a groin strain inside six minutes of the defeat at Brentford on July 4, ruling him out of the win over QPR and Saturday's draw at Barnsley.

However, with Danny Fox being red-carded at Oakwell - and facing a three-match ban that would end his season - Latics are desperate to restore Balogun to a backline already without the injured Chey Dunkley.

"We're monitoring Leon daily, that's with the medical team at the minute," confirmed assistant boss Leam Richardson.

"The way things are going, I think I'll need a fitness test myself on Monday to see where I am, but we'll have a team ready to go on Tuesday.

"When we came back to action we knew it would be a testing period, both physically and emotionally.

"We've a few being monitored, and fingers crossed we'll see how they are for Tuesday."

Latics have the option of appealing Fox's red card for a late lunge in centre-field, and he'd certainly be a big miss if the suspension stood.

"Danny's been great, he's been out for a period of time, and the performances he's put in of late have been five star," Richardson acknowledged.

"Everyone will have opinions on certain decisions, but officials have hundreds of decisions to make in a game - some they'll get right, some they'll get wrong.

"We'll go back, we'll have a look at it, and we'll make a decision with the manager and the analysts on (an appeal)."