Manchester United will seek to pile the psychological pressure on their absent Premier League rivals today with a victory against Wigan to increase their lead at the top of the table.
With second-placed Arsenal preparing for the League Cup final against Birmingham, and defending champions Chelsea with no fixture, a United win at Wigan will leave their rivals with little margin for error.
A United victory would leave them a mammoth 15 points clear of Chelsea ahead of the two sides’ re-arranged fixture at Stamford Bridge next Tuesday.
United manager Alex Ferguson will be certain to remove any trace of complacency from his team’s ranks as they prepare to meet a Wigan side mired in a relegation dogfight at the foot of the table.
Ferguson’s squad have struggled to find their best form in recent matches, with a lacklustre 1-0 win over non-league Crawley last weekend followed by a mind-numbing 0-0 Champions League match with Marseilles on Wednesday.
United captain Nemanja Vidic believes the club are entering what could be the decisive part of their season, with next Tuesday’s clash with Chelsea followed by games against Liverpool and Arsenal in coming weeks.
Vidic is insisting that the club abide by the old adage of taking each game as it comes.
“We have other important games to play first and the next is Wigan. We have to take three points and I believe we can,” Vidic said.
Wigan, meanwhile, have prepared for the game by re-laying the notoriously boggy playing surface at the DW Stadium. Latics boss Roberto Martinez said he had qualms about preparing a surface which is likely to benefit United as much as his own team.
“You don’t want to go into a game where the players cannot express themselves and cannot play the game they want to play or we want to play,” he said.
“From now until the end of the season every point is going to be valuable and it is important we do everything we can to help our players.”
Elsewhere, Manchester City, who sit in third spot, eight points behind United, will attempt to keep their flagging title hopes alive with a win over Fulham, managed by former City boss Mark Hughes.
Fulham have prepared for the game with a trip to Portugal, as Hughes seeks to rejuvenate his squad following last weekend’s disappointing FA Cup exit to Birmingham.
At the other end of the table, basement club Wolves will be hoping to drag Blackpool back into the relegation quagmire at Molineux.
Wolves remain anchored to the foot of the division on 25 points, and need to start winning if they are to preserve their Premier League status.