At present, Les Pogliacomi, Darren Sheridan, John Eyre, Lee Duxbury and David Beherall have all been struck down with coughs and colds. Add to this the injuries to Appleby, Wijnhard and the suspensions of Hill and Baudet and the Latics have almost a full first XI out.
Fear not though - Luton have the same problems. They too are facing an injury crisis with Alan Neilson, Ian Hillier, Russ Perrett and ex-Rochdale man David Bayliss all possibly being absent for Joe Kinnear's in-form side and worse still, 7-goal leading scorer Steve Howard is banned for collecting too many yellow cards. So this match certainly sees Latics Depleted XI vs Luton Depleted XI.
Looking at the list of possible missing players though, I don't envisage (and certainly hope) that all of those will be missing. The biggest worry is not the virus, but the 2 suspensions of centre-backs Hill and Baudet, coupled with the continual absence of Berehall. In a squad, you normally settle for 4 main centre-backs but for Saturday, 3 of them will be missing. Against Port Vale last weekend, the Latics were forced to go to a 4-4-2 from our very creative 3-5-2 and it showed. However, with full-backs Armstrong and Holden only just back from injury, I suppose that could be expected. But that leaves Dowie with a dilemma of how to fill the other missing centre-back spot - do you throw midfielder Lee Duxbury (who has proved he can play there) into the defence or do you give rookie Will Haining a go? I would suggest the latter as Duxbury needs to be in our midfield.
Oddly enough though, the Latics go into this game being the top form side (8 wins and 1 draw in 9 games) but face a resurgent Joe Kinnear side that have won their last 4 games. Admittedly, they have only beaten 4 struggling sides in Huddersfield Town (A), Swindon (H), Stockport (A) and Cheltenham (H) but still, you have to beat those who are put infront of you.
This won't be an easy game, for one that on paper, you'd think the hosts would walk over. It's nice in a way to have that disastrous home game vs Wycombe to look back at because that can now keep the teams feet firmly on the ground and be the warning signal for what can happen. Luton will be no mugs, but with both sides being depleted and the Latics having Chris Killen eagerly waiting to replace the now injured Wijnhard upfront, the Boundary Park lads will hopefully be too strong for the Kenilworth Road side.
Team News - Latics
Well normally this would be the place where the team news would be aired, but with it being a major factor for this game, it really had to be covered in the preview section.
It's difficult to even start predicting a side when you know that any one of the side could be hit with the bug going around. However, looking at the possibilities and fingers crossed that most of those currently affected will be fit to play, the side should see only 2 main changes. I expect Haining to fit into a 4 man defence to cover for Hill and Baudet's suspensions. Armstrong and Holden make up the quartet.
In midfield, hopefully Duxbury will start and finish this time and upfront Killen should replace Wijnhard who, it has been revealed, will miss 4 weeks now after a cartilage operation.
GK - Pogliacomi, DF - Holden, Hall, Haining, Armstrong, MD - Eyre, D.Sheridan, Duxbury, Eyres, FW - Corazzin, Killen
Team News - Luton
Same again, the southerners have a number of key players who are absent, but most importantly their key striker Howard misses out. That will be a severe blow for a side who has put a decent run together.
Verdict:
Usually, I would discuss match factors before making a verdict, but there seems little point as there is only one factor involved. Fortunately for the Latics though we have a quality squad in place to do the business, come injuries' illnesses or suspensions, whereas a side like Luton hasn't.
Even more poignant is that although both sides are form sides, and both have their main striker and club topscorer missing, Luton have no Chris Killen to walk into their side and thus I can't see us losing to them.
It will be tight to start with, but I feel if we can sneak an early goal, the Latics will go on to win by a couple. This could be a repeat of the last time Luton came to Boundary Park, so that is what I will go for. Stick your money on a 2-0 Latics win.