'˜Bigger game for Ipswich Town than Wigan Athletic', reckons Paul Cook

Paul Cook reckons this weekend's Championship clash means a lot more to rock-bottom Ipswich than it does to Wigan Athletic.
Paul CookPaul Cook
Paul Cook

The Tractor Boys have won only one of their 21 league games so far – at Swansea in October – and are already EIGHT points adrift of safety.

They’ve already made a managerial change, with Paul Lambert recently taking over from Paul Hurst, who himself only replaced Mick McCarthy over the summer.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

And Cook says all the pressure will be on the home side on Saturday – which will suit the visitors.

“Obviously Paul Hurst went in there at the start of the season, and got an amount of games to try and do something,” the Latics boss assessed.

“Things probably haven’t gone as well as they would have wanted, and they’ve changed to Paul Lambert, who’s a very experienced manager.

“He’s got a great cv in management, and a lot of success, and he’ll be looking at this game as a good chance of getting three points.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“This league is scarily difficult to get wins, and in the position they’re in, it’s possibly a bigger game for them than it is for us.

“If we were to go down there and win the game, it would put us in a very strong position in the league and make their position poorer.

“They will see this as a great opportunity to claw back points on the pack, and it should make for a very competitive game.

“The league is starting to take shape now, as we approach the halfway point.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“There’s a few teams near the top who are starting to look at where they might be heading up to.

“And there’s certainly a cluster of teams near the bottom end – with not a lot between them – fighting to stay where they think they should be.”