Gillingham will be hoping to get their League One season up and running on Saturday when they take on Wigan Athletic.

The Gills lost their first game of their league campaign – 2-0 to Hull City last week – but have won all three of their cup games so far. The most recent victory came on penalties against Championship Coventry City on Tuesday, which should give the Blues some needed confidence after a poor performance against Hull.

Manager Steve Evans will though be without vice-captain Stuart O’Keefe. The midfielder broke his leg against Coventry and will miss the rest of the season, whilst club captain Kyle Dempsey is expected to be out for five to six weeks with an ankle injury.

Evans boosted his midfield options in the week following the injuries as he added Coventry midfielder Josh Eccles to his ranks on a season-long loan deal, leaving him with 18 fit first team players to choose from for the trip to Wigan.

Wigan themselves haven’t got off to the best of starts this year. After succumbing to a 3-2 defeat at Fleetwood Town in the Carabao Cup, they lost 2-0 on Sky against Ipswich last week, and join the Gills in the League One relegation at the minute. It is though, of course, still very early in the campaign.

They have though signed a couple of players this week. Tom James and Nathan Cameron could make their debuts, and Danny Fox could too be involved. Josh Clarke and Gavin Massey, however, are sidelined.

Though the focus will very much be on the present, there is history between the two teams, particularly from a Gillingham point of view. The Gills beat their opponents 3-2 in extra time back in the old Division Two play-off final back in 2000 to earn promotion to the second tier of English football for the first time, but lost 3-2 on Sky back in January 2016 – a defeat that derailed their season and promotion hopes after originally being 2-0 up in the game.

Ahead of the game, manager Steve Evans said: “I went to watch Wigan last week and it was a very impressive performance.

“I do not think Wigan are in danger whatsoever but for the sake of that football club and for the sake of football they just need to get sorted out. But that is not my business – my business is to go there and get a positive result.

“I know they have a one or two younger players, but it is still a very impressive 14/15 players.”

Supporters will not be able to watch the game in the stadium, but an iFollow pass can be purchased for £10, which will allow fans to watch a live stream online.

Image courtesy of Gillingham FC