Hill says Wigan will be 'in the top two come the end of the season'

Wigan, who were relegated from the Championship at the end of last season, make the trip to Spotland on a ten game unbeaten run (five wins and five draws) and Hill expects Saturday’s opponents to claim automatic promotion at the first time of asking.

Rochdale manager Keith Hill commented: “They’ll be in the top two. There’s no question in my mind that at the end of the season they’ll be in the top two.

“Sometimes it takes big football clubs a certain amount of time to settle in and understand the league that they find themselves in, but they’ve found out and understood the league very early. It hasn’t gone the 10 or 15 games where they’ve struggled and are playing a massive catch up.

“When you look at the squad of players that they’ve got, they’ve arguably got two experienced high quality players for every position. They can recruit the best, they can retain the best and if they get injuries and suspensions they can recruit again. It has been well documented that the Chairman has suggested that they can have the best budget by a country mile to outstrip any other team in the league and I probably agree that they can do that.

“I think they’re being well managed by Gary Caldwell, but again, I just feel as though they’ve got the resources to continue growing stronger and stronger within this league and I definitely think they’ll be in the top two come the end of the season.”