2 Wigan Athletic dilemmas facing Leam Richardson ahead of Hull City tonight | OneFootball

Upon their return to the Championship, Wigan Athletic will surely be happy with how they have started the season.

11 matches in, the Latics currently sit 10th in the second tier standings, just two points off the playoff positions.

Whilst nobody is getting carried away at this early stage, survival does look a very realistic aim at this point.

Leam Richardson’s side next face Hull City away from home this evening in their next Championship test.

The Tigers have lost their last five matches and are currently without a permanent manager after the sacking of Shota Arveladze.

With that said, here are two dilemmas facing Wigan boss Leam Richardson ahead of the match.

Hull have no manager

Arguably, Hull City’s lack of a manager is a big dilemma for Leam Richardson going into this one.

Andy Dawson will take temporary charge of the Tigers for the match tonight, and although this is the second time he has done so, there is a key difference this time around.

When Dawson took charge of the Wigan clash, it was on the very same day that Shota Arveladze was relieved of his duties.

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1. Which national team did Emmerson Boyce play for?

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One would assume that given the sacking occured so late on, Dawson stuck with the tactics being worked on by Arveladze ahead of the match as changing everything with less than ten hours to go before kick off would be an enormous task.

That gives Leam Richardson a bit of uncertainty going into tonight’s clash, with the Latics boss surely wondering what side Andy Dawson might put out, and what tactics he may deploy.

Coping without Callum Lang

If there were to be a negative attached to Saturday’s 2-0 victory over Rotherham it would surely be the news that broke after the match concerning Callum Lang.

After being omitted from the matchday squad, Leam Richardson confirmed that the forward had damaged ankle ligaments, with no date yet set for a return.

Lang has been quite a mainstay in the side so far this season, making eight appearances in the league and contributing with two direct goal contributions in those matches.

Nathan Broadhead stepped in to replace him on Saturday, but when Lang was absent previously this season, Leam Richardson actually changed the shape of the side.

It will be really interesting to see whether Richardson simply uses Broadhead down the right hand side once again tonight, or whether more radical tactical changes occur as a result of Lang’s continued absence.