Wigan vs Middlesbrough prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2022-10-18 18:45.
A run of three defeats from Wigan’s last four league games has almost evened out their Championship record this season (W5, D4, L5). Even so, the Latics remain at least four points better off than at the same stage of each of their last three second-tier relegation campaigns, yet Wigan’s complacency needs to be addressed soon after they failed to win a fourth league game this season after striking first last time out at Sunderland, crumbling to a 2-1 defeat.
Wigan now have the chance to bounce back and record back-to-back home league wins for the first time since March after winning their first home game of the season (D3, L3) on their last DW Stadium outing. That 1-0 victory over local rivals Blackburn may serve to boost confidence ahead of the visit of a Middlesbrough side Wigan have failed to defeat in each of the last 11 league H2Hs (D6, L5).
This is perhaps the best time to face Boro then, as they have discovered that you can’t win games with passion alone during the short caretaker tenure of popular first team coach Leo Percovich (W1, L2). The 2-1 home defeat against Blackburn at the weekend plunged pre-season promotion hopefuls Boro back into the relegation zone whilst rounding off a dire run of one win from six games (D2, L3).
If Middlesbrough are to find some sort of stability this season, they need to register their first away league win of the season and end their current nine-game winless run on the road (D3, L6). Another defeat here would be damning, as Middlesbrough have not lost five straight away league games outside of the Premier League since 2013, but five consecutive unbeaten visits to Wigan (W1, D4) may inspire hope they can avoid that feat here.
Players to watch: Middlesbrough academy product Charlie Wyke has scored in two of his last three Wigan appearances, including one against another former club of his, Sunderland. As for Middlesbrough, Duncan Watmore scored his third goal of the campaign at the weekend, although he’s yet to be on the winning side when scoring this season (D1, L2).
Hot stat: Middlesbrough have scored exactly twice in nine of their last ten Championship away games played on a Wednesday and only lost once (W7, D2, L1).