Wigan Athletic will look to move back into the top six of the Championship table this Saturday when they face fellow playoff hopefuls Ipswich Town at Portman Road.

The Latics were displaced in sixth by Reading recently, although their FA Cup heroics mean that they now have two games in hand over the Royals.

Should they win both of those then Wigan could climb as high as fourth place, and they are looking increasingly likely to be involved in the playoffs in May.

Uwe Rosler's side have now won seven matches on the bounce in all competitions and show no signs of slowing down despite an increasingly packed fixture schedule given their remarkable defence of the FA Cup.

Indeed, Wigan have only been beaten twice in all competitions since a mid-December defeat to Maribor in the Europa League, 20 games ago.

They will have no worries about away form either having won their last five games on the road, including a 2-1 victory over Manchester City at the Etihad last Sunday and a 4-1 win against Nottingham Forest at the start of the month.

The visitors will be without long-term absentees Chris McCann, Ben Watson and Gary Caldwell, while Shaun Maloney will also not travel despite making a return for the Under-21s this week.

Ipswich are the team who face the unenviable task of trying to stop Wigan, and they will be approaching the match as a 'must win' encounter in terms of their playoff hopes.

A narrow 1-0 win away to Yeovil Town on Tuesday kept their slim hopes of a top six finish alive but, with their rivals having played fewer games, their fate is out of their own hands at the moment.

The Tractor Boys are now four points behind sixth-placed Reading, and they can't afford to let that gap grow much bigger if they are to stand any chance of sneaking into the playoffs.

Inconsistent form has been an issue for Mick McCarthy's side recently, with two wins, two draws and two defeats from their last six outings.

However, their home form has been more promising with just one defeat in their last 10 games at Portman Road and no goals conceded in their last four.

The hosts' task of making a push for the top six has been made even harder by the season-ending injury to top scorer David McGoldrick, while Anthony Wordsworth and Frank Nouble are also doubts for Saturday's game.

Recent form

Ipswich: DDLWLW

Wigan: WWWWWW

Possible starting lineups

Ipswich: Gerken; Chambers, Berra, Smith, Chambers; Green, Tabb, Skuse, Anderson; Williams; Murphy

Wigan: Al-Habsi; Perch, Barnett, Boyce, Crainey; McArthur, Tunnicliffe; McClean, Gomez, Waghorn; Maynard

Sports Mole says: 1-2

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