After their tough Christmas schedule finishing with a draw away at Brighton, the Cherries take a break from league action and enter into the third round of the FA Cup at Dean Court. Their opponents are League 1 leaders Wigan Athletic.
Wigan came from the non league into Division 4 back in 1978, since then they went up through the leagues until reaching the Premier League. Their first season in the top league was 2005-06 and they remained there until the end of the 2012-13 season where they were relegated down into the Championship. Their time in the Championship was only two seasons, the same two seasons AFCB were in it from 2013-14 until the end of 2014-15. Wigan were relegated into League 1 and the Cherries were promoted up into the Premier League for the first time in the history of the club.
Wigan finished Champions in 2015-16, after one season in League 1 and returned to the Championship. The 2016-17 season was a short lived affair in the Championship and they were relegated back into League 1.
Wigan after their relegation appointed a new manager. You may have heard his voice on Solent when he was manager at Pompey for two seasons, Paul Cook took Pompey up into League 1 from League 2 in his short time in charge, before becoming the new manager at Wigan. Cook has so far done a good job of trying to get Wigan back on an upward spiral to get back into the Championship.
This season in the FA Cup Wigan beat Crawley 2-1 in the first round at home. In the second round they were drawn away to National League side AFC Fylde which is near Blackpool. The game ended 1-1 and Wigan won the replay 3-2. In the third round they have an away visit to Dean Court.
AFC Bournemouth Team News:
With some players out through injury and a recent very busy league schedule, Eddie Howe will probably rest some players and play some of the fringe players.
Player to watch: Lys Mousset
Difficult one not knowing who will be available. But expect Lys Mousset to start and will see how he performs against a side in a lower league.
Wigan Athletic Team News:
Wigan may themselves rest one or two players with their sights on a return to the Championship.
Player to watch: Will Grigg
Will Grigg their Northern Ireland International striker, scored 3 goals in the FA Cup so far and 7 in the league. Nick Powell is their leading scorer from midfield in the league with 11 goals, depends who plays and who their manager may rest.
Match Facts & Stats
We have only once played Wigan at Dean Court in the FA Cup. It was a third round replay, in January 2013, the Cherries were in League 1 and Wigan in the Premier League. We had earlier in the month drawn 1-1 at their place. Wigan won the replay with the only goal of the game. This Saturday at Dean Court, AFC Bournemouth are the Premier League side and Wigan the League 1 side. AFCB and Wigan have met once before in the FA Cup, we were away again in the third round, both sides were in Division 3, the game was in January 1986 and Wigan won 3-0. In all competitions against Wigan, AFCB have Won 16, Drawn 10 and Lost 16.
