Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate has doubts over Andrew Taylor, Robert Huth and Gary O'Neil for the trip to Wigan.The injury concerns forced Southgate into recalling Jonathan Grounds from his loan spell at Norwich earlier in the week and he could come straight back into the side to face Wigan, although Chris Riggott is another option.
O'Neil, meanwhile, has been ill this week and looks set to miss out as Boro hope to return to form following a poor run of four consecutive defeats.
Despite his injury worries Southgate is confident his side can get a result at the JJB Stadium and insists the recent defeats are down to poor finishing - something he has been keen to work on in training this week.
Southgate said: "We know that it is going to be a difficult game but they all are. We have had a good week in training and we know that we would have taken a lot more points from our recent games if we had taken our chances.
"(Emile) Heskey and (Amr) Zaki have been doing well for Wigan but we have two strong strikers of our own. We will go there to be strong, physically and mentally, and we will work as hard as we possibly can to get that clean sheet."
The Boro boss added: "We have been concentrating on our shooting. That doesn't apply to just (Afonso) Alves and Mido. It has involved the whole team, and it has gone well."
