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West Ham have picked up 12 points from a possible 18, including away victories at Blackburn and Arsenal, their only away wins of the season.
Meanwhile Wigan have not won one of their last six, only picking up three points in the process. Yet despite his sides failure to win recently, Paul Jewell has turned the heat up on West Ham, stating its a must win for the Hammers, and not for his troops.
Jewell said: "I've been asked a few times whether tomorrow is a must-win game for us, and I don't think it is. But I think it is a must-win game for West Ham.
There's no getting away from it - this is a massive game for us. It is probably as big as Reading two years ago when we won to get promoted into the Premiership. Reading was a make-or-break game, even though we could still have got through the play-offs if we had to."
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Ryan Taylors absence is softened with the return of Lee McCulloch, whilst Henri Camara is expected to partner Emile Heskey up front (what does Julius Agohawa have to do to play?).
Although our front line is decided on, West Ham don't have the same luxury. After being found guilty of fielding inelligble players, they esxaped a points deduction but were fined £5.5million.
As well as this, Carlos Tevez's involvement in his sides crucial last three games is in doubt.
Whether the Argentinian plays or not, West Ham must win Saturday's clash to stand any hope of survival. Meanwhile, 20,000 home fans will be hoping they can celebrate relegating the Hammers.
Ones to watch
Seeing as Tevez may not play, the in-form Bobby Zamora is the one to watch. Zamora has scored some crucial goals, including last weeks long range effort which downed Everton.
Pundits Prediction
Mark Lawrenson feels this is the game West Ham will go down, losing to the Latics 2-1. Kiss of death?
My Prediction
Despite what Jewell says, the final three games are all must-wins. With West Ham having to go all out for victory, hopefully this will leave them weak to counter attacks.
Latics 1 Hammers 0
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