Wigan Athletic v Manchester United Preview
By Alan G
October 13 2006
Paul Jewell will only name his starting eleven for the visit of Manchester United after fully assessing his returning internationals.
Former Hearts centre-back Andy Webster is not thought to be in Jewell’s plans, despite completing 90 minutes in the reserves this week.
Ryan Giggs may be involved after suffering a hamstring injury, but it will be too soon for the return of Gabriel Heinze, who suffered a similar injury.
Cristiano Ronaldo hopes to shake off an ankle injury he picked up on international duty during the week.
Latics (from): Kirkland, Jackson, Hall, De Zeeuw, Kilbane, Camara, Heskey, Johansson, Landzaat, Boyce, Scharner, Teale, Cotterill, Cywka, Webster, Skoko, Baines, Valencia, Todorov, McCulloch, Pollitt.
Man Utd (from): Van der Sar, Kuszczak, Neville, Evra, Ferdinand, Vidic, Brown, Saha, Smith, Carrick, Solskjaer, O'Shea, Richardson, Fletcher, Ronaldo, Jones, Scholes, Rooney.
Referee: Steve Bennett (
Paul Jewell:
"There was more pressure on us last season because everyone expected us to go down.
"But Manchester United will want to win the league this year, they will feel they have a good chance.
"We know it will be a tough game. What any manager wants out of his team is for them to give their best and whatever we get, I'll take it.
"They don't come any bigger than Manchester United at home
"I hope we can push them all the way like we did last season. We were unfortunate then; United had one shot on target and scored two goals - if you can work that one out.
"Sir Alex Ferguson said it was one of the hardest games away from home they had all season."