Perhaps a welcome break from league football as Accrington Stanley & Wigan Athletic face off to decide who makes it to next stage of the EFL Trophy. All the pre-match information is available here!
It's no vacation for neither Accrington nor Wigan Athletic as both were in action only a few days ago. Expect some tired legs on the pitch and/or possibly some changes to the lineups.
Accrington Stanley form and stats
This is not the first game this season in the EFL Trophy for Accrington, as the manager J. Coleman led his troops to eliminate Barrow, Leicester U21 and Fleetwood Town, and reach the 2nd Round. Last season, Accrington Stanley's EFL Trophy journey ended in the 3rd round.4 victories, 1 draw and 3 defeats. That’s what Accrington Stanley have to build on here at Wham Stadium in the League One. This match is a EFL Trophy match, and the hometeam has the total statistics 2 wins, 1 draw and 0 losses in this competition. We have seen two home losses in a row now for Accrington Stanley, who are hoping that the phrase “third time lucky” applies to them.
A strong away win for Accrington against Lincoln City the last match, as Colby Bishop were on target. Sam Sherring, defender, was given a rating of 7.82/10 in that game, top of the team. Sherring hit one key pass and won 4 of 4 duels.
Prior to that, an away loss at Burton Albion in the League One.Another home game is coming up fairly shortly for the hosts, as Fleetwood Town are coming to town in four days.
Accrington have proved capable of finding the net in their games here at Wham Stadium with 12 goals in 8 league matches. With more than 1,5 conceded goals on average, the Accrington Stanley defense is not exactly impregnable. 15 goals conceded from 8 games. You can find more goal stats on the Statistics tab above.
Wigan Athletic form and stats
The traveling awayteam has defeated Shrewsbury Town, Wolves U21 and Crewe Alexandra in order to reach 2nd round of EFL Trophy. They also participated in EFL Trophy last season. This ended in the group stage.Wigan Athletic have an excellent away record in the League One so far with 7-1-1 from 9 games. When we have look at the EFL Trophy statistics, we find 1W-1D-1L. This is both home and away. The away team travel with confidence. Not since the Sunderland game have they lost an away game, meaning Wigan has taken points from eight away matches in a row.
Two travels in a row for Wigan, whose manager L. Richardson could celebrate last time after the League One win against Plymouth Argyle. Will Keane, attacking player, was the top performer on the team in that game, scoring a match rating of 8.1. Keane scored one goal, served one assist, hit two key passes, dribled past the opponent 1 of 1 times and had 25 successful passes (of 31 total).
Before that, Wigan travelled to Cambridge United and returned home with a draw after the League One game finished 2-2.Wigan have scored more than twice on average per away game (in the league), an impressive attacking display. They have 22 goals from 9 away matches. They concede less than a goal on average per away game (8 so far).
Head 2 Head
Statistics for the last four meetings involving these two contenders are: two wins for Accrington, zero draws and two wins for Wigan Athletic. Over 2,5 goals: four times; under 2,5 goals: zero games.Top Goalscorers
  W. Keane 9 goals |  C. Lang 7 goals |   H. Pell 5 goals |
Accrington Stanley missing players
Wigan Athletic missing players
| Accrington Stanley | Wigan Athletic | ||||||
| Total | Home | Statistics | Stat | Away | Total | ||
| 25 | 10 | Played | P | 11 | 25 | ||
| 10 | 5 | Won | W | 8 | 14 | ||
| 5 | 2 | Drew | D | 2 | 6 | ||
| 10 | 3 | Lost | L | 1 | 5 | ||
| 37 | 19 | Scored | S | 24 | 38 | ||
| 45 | 17 | Conceded | C | 10 | 20 | ||
| 92% | 100% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 100% | 88% | ||
| 72% | 80% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 100% | 80% | ||
| 68% | 80% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 55% | 40% | ||
| 48% | 60% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 36% | 16% | ||
| 36% | 40% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 18% | 8% | ||
| 60% | 70% | BTTS | BTTS | 55% | 44% | ||
| 28% | 30% | Clean Sheets | C S | 36% | 48% | ||
| 20% | 0% | Failed to Score | F T | 9% | 20% | ||
| 5 | 5.5 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 6.2 | 6.1 | ||
| 5.5 | 5.5 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 3.7 | 3.8 | ||
| 2.1 | 1.9 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 1.9 | 2.2 | ||
| 1 | 0 | Red cards | R C | 0 | 0 | ||
| 13.6 | 13.4 | Shots (avg) | S ( | 14.4 | 13 | ||
| 4.8 | 5.6 | Shots on Target (avg) | S O | 5.5 | 4.7 | ||
| 31% | 34% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 40% | 32% | ||
| 12.3 | 10.1 | Shots against (avg) | S A | 10.5 | 9.5 | ||
| 4.2 | 3.6 | Shots on Target against (avg) | S O | 3.2 | 2.9 | ||
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Rotherham United | 19 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 34 | 13 | 10 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 22 | 10 | 9 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 12 | 3 | 21 | 38 |
| 2 | Wigan Athletic | 18 | 12 | 2 | 4 | 34 | 16 | 9 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 22 | 8 | 18 | 38 |
| 3 | Wycombe Wanderers | 20 | 11 | 5 | 4 | 32 | 23 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 11 | 11 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 17 | 12 | 9 | 38 |
| 4 | Plymouth Argyle | 20 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 33 | 22 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 17 | 11 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 16 | 11 | 11 | 36 |
| 5 | Sunderland | 18 | 11 | 2 | 5 | 30 | 23 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 4 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 14 | 19 | 7 | 35 |
| 6 | Milton Keynes Dons | 19 | 10 | 4 | 5 | 37 | 24 | 9 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 15 | 10 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 22 | 14 | 13 | 34 |
| 7 | Sheffield Wednesday | 20 | 8 | 9 | 3 | 28 | 21 | 10 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 15 | 8 | 10 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 13 | 13 | 7 | 33 |
| 8 | Oxford United | 18 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 29 | 18 | 11 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 21 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 32 |
| 9 | Portsmouth | 20 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 26 | 22 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 14 | 10 | 11 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 12 | 12 | 4 | 32 |
| 10 | Burton Albion | 20 | 8 | 4 | 8 | 22 | 23 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 18 | 12 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 11 | -1 | 28 |
| 11 | Cheltenham Town | 19 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 26 | 30 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 13 | 19 | -4 | 27 |
| 12 | Bolton Wanderers | 20 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 29 | 29 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 16 | 15 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 13 | 14 | 0 | 26 |
| 13 | Ipswich Town | 19 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 34 | 29 | 10 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 19 | 16 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 15 | 13 | 5 | 24 |
| 14 | Accrington Stanley | 19 | 7 | 3 | 9 | 23 | 36 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 15 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 11 | 21 | -13 | 24 |
| 15 | Charlton Athletic | 20 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 26 | 27 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 15 | 14 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 11 | 13 | -1 | 23 |
| 16 | Cambridge United | 20 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 27 | 35 | 11 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 15 | 17 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 12 | 18 | -8 | 23 |
| 17 | AFC Wimbledon | 18 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 26 | 30 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 15 | 15 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 11 | 15 | -4 | 21 |
| 18 | Lincoln City | 19 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 20 | 24 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 12 | 11 | -4 | 21 |
| 19 | Shrewsbury Town | 19 | 5 | 4 | 10 | 18 | 25 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 11 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 14 | -7 | 19 |
| 20 | Morecambe | 19 | 5 | 4 | 10 | 29 | 37 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 14 | 17 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 15 | 20 | -8 | 19 |
| 21 | Gillingham | 20 | 3 | 8 | 9 | 16 | 27 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 14 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 13 | -11 | 17 |
| 22 | Fleetwood Town | 18 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 30 | 34 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 15 | 16 | 9 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 15 | 18 | -4 | 15 |
| 23 | Doncaster Rovers | 19 | 3 | 4 | 12 | 11 | 34 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 8 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 3 | 26 | -23 | 13 |
| 24 | Crewe Alexandra | 19 | 2 | 6 | 11 | 16 | 34 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 10 | 16 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 18 | -18 | 12 |
- Accrington Stanley
- Lancashire Telegraph - (local newspaper)
- Wigan Athletic
- Wigan Today - (local newspaper)