YNWA looks back at our previous meetings with Wigan Athletic as we prepare for only our fifth ever trip to face the Latics in any competition on Monday, and the first since its renaming as the DW Stadium.
Most recently
We suffered our third straight 1-1 draw in January 2009, our fourth consecutive stalemate in all competitions as we visited the JJB Stadium. Robbie Keane played his 28th and final reds game as a late substitute for Steven Gerrard. Yossi Benayoun gave us the lead, with Fernando Torres hitting the post before Lucas gave away a very late penalty that Mido converted, so scoring against the reds for his second club in the League that season after netting for Middlesbrough at Anfield.
Fernando Torres played his hundredth reds game as we won 2-1 last December. David N'Gog opened the scoring with his head inside ten minutes, with Torres also on target after replacing the young Frenchman. Charles N'Zogbia pulled a goal back in injury time but we held on for all three points.
Dirk's come-back
Amr Zaki put Wigan in front at Anfield in October 2008 after being presented with the ball by Daniel Agger, before Dirk Kuyt scored in his third consecutive game to draw us level. However, the Latics went ahead again just before half time through an overhead kick from Zaki. Antonia Valencia was sent off for the visitors before we came back to win, thanks to Albert Riera's first reds goal and then a late scissor-kick winner from Kuyt.
This was the first time that Steve Bruce had tasted defeat when leading a side against us in the Premier League, after six previous unbeaten matches.
Other visits
Craig Bellamy struck twice in December 2006 as we won away from home in the League for the first time that season, at the eighth time of asking. Our other goals in a 4-0 victory came from Dirk Kuyt and a Lee McCulloch own goal, with all the goals coming in the opening period.
Substitute Yossi Benayoun bagged the only goal of the game at the JJB in September 2007 with a quarter of an hour remaining as we reached 400 away Premiership points. However, the match was somewhat marred by fighting in the home stands when some reds celebrated our winning goal in amongst Latics fans.
Other Anfield encounters
We succumbed to a late Titus Bramble strike in January 2008 as Wigan scored their first ever League goal against us to secure their first point against any of the ‘big four' in 21 attempts, cancelling out a Fernando Torres effort, his sixteenth goal of the season.
John Arne Riise played his 300th reds game with Pepe Reina reaching his Liverpool century as we won 2-0 in April 2007 as the Latics continued to flirt with relegation. Dirk Kuyt bagged a brace that day.
First time in the League
Our first ever League meeting was at Anfield in December 2005, when Peter Crouch scored his first two reds goals after eighteen outings without notching as we won 3-0, although his first strike was initially wrongly credited as an own goal. Luis García grabbed the third.
We paid our first visit to the JJB Stadium in February 2006, when their then record attendance of 25,023 saw Sami Hyypiä net the only goal. This has since been beaten by 110 extra fans when Manchester United visited in May 2008.
In the League Cup
The only times we had ever faced the Latics in any competition before their recent ascent to the Premiership came in the Second Round of the League Cup back in 1989, when Wigan were residing near the bottom of the old Third Division. The Kop was recorded for use on "Kenny D, The Pride Of Liverpool" by the Liverpool FC 1989 Squad featuring Peter Howitt, as we triumphed 5-2 in the first leg in mid-September. Glen Hysén headed us in front inside five minutes before a thunderous Bryan Griffiths free-kick levelled the match. David Thompson then sensationally put the visitors ahead on 55 minutes before Ian Rush grabbed a brace, with Peter Beardsley and John Barnes also netting, although he had a penalty saved by keeper Nigel Adkins. This was Digger's hundredth reds game.
Two weeks later, Steve Staunton bagged a hat-trick as we won the second leg 3-0 in the away leg that was switched to Anfield. He had come on in the second half as an emergency forward substitute after Ian Rush had limped off.
