Match: Newcastle vs Wigan
Date: September 1st 2007 | 3pm KO
TV: Highlights on BBC1, MOTD.

Newcastle entertain Wigan at St James Park following their Carling Cup 2nd round victory over Barnsley at the ground on Wednesday night.

The Magpies are hoping to secure a first victory and league goal at home, since the 2-1 victory over Liverpool back in February. Since then, things have been a little sour for the 52,000 fans but since Big Sam came in back in July, there seems to be a new era in force at the club.

Newcastle (from): Given, Harper, Solano, Enrique, N’Zogbia, Rozehnal, Taylor, Cacapa, Edgar, Huntington, Milner, Geremi, Butt, Smith, Emre, Pattison, Viduka, Martins, Ameobi, Owen.

Wigan (from): Kirkland, Granqvist, Hall, Sibierski, Camara, Heskey, Kilbane, Koumas, Brown, Landzaat, Aghahowa, Boyce, Scharner, Bent, Bramble, Cotterill, Skoko, Melchiot, Pollitt.

For Newcastle, after picking up a knock in the Carling Cup on Wednesday, Emre is a doubt for the game. Peter Ramage (knee), Stephen Carr (hamstring), Celestine Babayaro (), Joey Barton (foot) and Damien Duff (knee) all remain on Newcastle’s long-term injury list and will definitely play no part in the game while Michael Owen’s fitness will be assessed before deciding upon the 1st team lineup.

For Wigan, Marcus Bent may start after completing his move to the Latics on the last day of the transfer window, but other new transfer Rachid Bouaouzan will not play any part. Although Antonio Valencia (knee) is a doubt, Wigan may remain unchanged from their draw at West Ham the previous weekend.

This will be a tough game for Newcastle, especially with the pressure to get results from the Geordie fans. However, Wigan are a team that Newcastle should beat quite easily, whether they will is another question.

I’m going to go 2-1 to Newcastle with Michael Owen and Mark Viduka scoring the Toon’s first league goals at St James since February.

Give us your opinions on the game.

To read a Wigan fansite’s view of the game, simply Click Here