After a comfortable 3-0 win against Stoke Newcastle will be looking to increase their chances of finishing in a Champions League place with victory over Wigan.  This season has been one of the best seasons I have season Newcastle play and I hope the run can continue but this will be an extremely tough game against an ever improving Wigan side.

Wigan Athletic

Form: WWLWWL

It was only a few weeks ago when I was certain that Wigan were for the drop.  Suddenly they have hit their best run of form of the whole season just at the right time.  Having watched Wigan this season they haven’t been playing that bad at all, they just haven’t ground out the results when they should have done.

April 28

Wigan - Newcastle result

Final score: Wigan 4-0 Newcastle (Moses 2, Maloney, Di Santo)

April 24

Newcastle under 18's latest score

Newcastle United under 18's have won the Premier Academy League Group D after beating Barnsley 1-0

April 20

Champions league qualification - Manager quotes

"I'll choke on my beer if Chelsea win the Champions League and we finish fourth, for sure. But the rules are the rules."

"I really think we'll achieve something special if we finish fifth or sixth. Any higher than that would be astounding really but I think we've got a real chance.

Cheick Tiote quotes

“I’m a Newcastle player – my future is at Newcastle." [Guardian]

Newcastle go in search of 3 more points in their challenge for Europe this weekend as Stoke City are the visitors to Tyneside. It represents a first Saturday afternoon 3pm fixture for almost 2 months following a string of televised fixtures and the Easter weekend.

With Arsenal and Chelsea the early Saturday kick-off and Tottenham facing a tricky away fixture in the televised evening game at QPR, then this could prove a pivotal weekend in the race for Champions League football. Depending on how results go elsewhere Newcastle could find themselves in 4^th spot, just 2 points behind Arsenal, or dropping down to 6^th with a tough set of fixtures remaining.

To say it is a must win probably doesn’t do it justice. Stoke will be looking to consolidate their mid table position, and with all the teams around them closely bunched, they will still harbour hopes of a top half finish. A great atmosphere is certain with some of the away tickets not being taken, they are now available to home fans with a sell out on the cards.

On paper this game should be a straight forward 3 points, we are challenging for Europe and come into the game following 4 straight wins, whereas Bolton are still fighting relegation and despite a recent resurgence are 16^th.

However we all know that games are never won on paper and often a team fighting relegation can provide some real shocks. It is going to be a tricky game on Monday but it is also one that we need to win to keep up the pressure on Chelsea.

Earlier in the season Newcastle won at the Reebok where two goals in two second half minutes thanks to Ba but first Ben Arfa secured us the three points. At the time of the win Newcastle were 7^th and Bolton 19^th, since then both teams have moved up the league, Bolton up 3 to 16^th and Newcastle 2 to 5^th.

Head to head

The game on Easter Monday is the 112^th league meeting between ourselves and Bolton. Newcastle have won 51 times to Bolton’s 41 and there have been 19 draws. In the Premier League the two teams have met 23 times with Newcastle just edging things. Our record is W11 L9 D 3.

Our home record against Bolton is excellent, with 7 out of the 11 games since the first Premier League meeting in 1995 resulting in 3 points for the Toon. At the same time we have only ever lost once at St James’ Park back in 2006. This coincided with the only time Bolton have done the double over us, it is a feat we have done twice before over the Trotters, the last coming in the 2001/2 season.