An in-form Wigan Warriors side welcome a Toulouse to the DW Stadium with the French outfit struggling to gain any momentum yet this season despite running a number of teams close.
Wigan currently sit in third, and after already earning a piece of silverware, their sights will be set on finishing as high up the table as possible in order to get an easier road to the Grand Final. If this is to happen, games like this have to be won.
Despite the obvious disparity on paper, the league table alone does not tell the full story. Toulouse lost by just one point when they last played Wigan, in a cruel 29-28 loss. They seem to produce their best performances against the best teams, having beaten St Helens while also putting up a good fight against Catalans.
Kick-off time and TV Channel: The game kicks off at 8pm but is not televised. However the game can be followed on BBC Radio Manchester, and highlights can be found on the Super League YouTube channel as well as BBC’s Super League show.
Predicted line-ups
Wigan Warriors: Kai Pearce-Paul returns to the squad for the first time since March, recovering from a knee-ligament injury. The speedster, who has this week been linked with a move to NRL outfit Newcastle Knights, is expected to feature but will have to work hard to get into Matty Peat’s starting team over the next few weeks. This is how we expect Wigan to go on Friday night:
1 Jai Field
2 Bevan French
3 Willie Isa
4 Jake Bibby
5 Liam Marshall
6 Harry Smith
7 Thomas Leuluai
8 Brad Singleton
9 Sam Powell
10 Liam Byrne
11 Liam Farrell
12 Kai Pearce-Paul
13 John Bateman
Subs
14 Patrick Mago
15 Oliver Partington
16 Ethan Havard
17 Kaide Ellis
Toulouse Olympique: There are multiple returnees for Toulouse, with Joe Bretherton and Guy Armitage back in the fold. New signing Lambert Belmas may make his debut, and Maxime Stefani makes up the four incoming players. Joseph Paulo, Gadwin Springer, Romain Navarette and Ilias Bergal all make way ahead of the clash. This is what we expect Toulouse to go with:
1 Oliver Ashall-Bott
2 Matthew Russell
3 Chris Hankinson
4 Matthieu Jussaume
5 Latrell Schaumkel
6 Corey Norman
7 Lucas Albert
8 Anthony Marion
9 Andrew Dixon
10 Joe Bretherton
11 Dominique Peyroux
12 Nathan Peats
13 Daniel Alvaro
Subs
14 Eloi Pelissier
15 Harrison Hansen
16 Guy Armitage
17 Lambert Belmas
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