Wigan Athletic manager Shaun Maloney has declared that he believes Bristol Rovers will "come for us" when the Gas visit the Brick Community Stadium on Saturday.

The Latics come into the game in indifferent form having followed up impressive away wins at Mansfield Town, albeit in the FA Cup, and Stevenage with a 2-1 home defeat to bottom side Burton Albion on Tuesday night.

Home form has been tough to come by for Maloney's men who have won just three League One matches on their own turf so far this campaign with their away record considerably better.

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Wigan did thump Rovers in the reverse fixture at the Mem 4-0 back in September but the Gas are now under new management in Inigo Calderon and have built confidence off the back of consecutive victories in the league against Cambridge United and Barnsley.

"I think they'll come for us," Maloney declared previewing this weekend's clash. "I think they'll try and high press us. They'll try to play through us so I think it will be a really open game. I don't see us having the same amount of possession as we had in the second half [against Burton]. It will be a real fight for the ball.

"When we beat them 4-0 there, they've got good players. They've got some really talented players in wide areas. Midfield they've got goals from as well. We know a lot about their midfielders.

"I think this will be a lot more open game. We have to be better in the most critical areas and then play the way that we want to play and just get through it."

The two sides are separated by just one place and two points in the league table with Tuesday night a good opportunity for Wigan to create a healthier gap between themselves and Rovers going into the weekend with the Burton game one in hand on the Gas.

In-form Thelo Aasgaard opened the scoring for the Latics just after the half-hour mark but efforts either side of half-time from the Brewers earned them just their third league win of the campaign.

Wigan were allowed to dominate possession with a total of 66 per cent while their shot count was 12 to Burton's nine. However, the loss means that Saturday's hosts have won just one of their last seven league games at home.

"That will be the plan [putting things right on Saturday]," Maloney added. "We're quite clear on what we have to do better in that type of game but this weekend will be a very different game. A completely different game.

"It was really disappointing on Tuesday night. I felt it was a big chance. I felt it was a really big game to carry on the momentum. We had two brilliant results and we didn't manage to do it.

"It's been like that all season really. We've had a couple of really good results and then we'll have a different performance so I have to try to rectify that."

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