Get to know Saturday's opponents...
- Form:
After getting off to the best possible start under new Manager Paul Scholes with a 4-1 win over Yeovil, Oldham have since gone three games without a win. Held at home by Crewe Alexandra in a 1-1 draw, the Latics have since lost to relegation-threatened Morecambe and local rivals Bury.
Three points on Saturday for Scholes' men would see them over-take Stevenage and potentially move up to 10th place, depending on other results in the league.
- Squad News:
Oldham were very busy in the January transfer window, with 11 departures and 9 arrivals in total, along with 2 loanees returning to Boundary Park. The January incomings include 20-year-old Centre-Forward Oladapo Afolayan on loan from West Ham, Urko Vera on a free transfer from CFR Cluj, 20-year-old winger Zak Dearnley on loan from Manchester United, goalkeeper Alex Palmer on loan from West Brom, 21-year-old centre-back Alex Lacovitti on loan from Nottingham Forest, midfielder Mohamad Sylla on a permanent deal from Entente SSG and centre-back free agent Sonhy Sefil.
Oldham are not reported to be carrying any injuries going into the weekend.
- Top Performers:
The Latics’ performer of the season has unquestionably been loanee Callum Lang from Wigan. The forward has racked up 11 goals so far, making him the club's top goalscorer for the campaign.
Lang, who played in the Liverpool Academy up until 2013, when he joined Wigan, had his loan stay extended in January after proving to be indespensible to the team.
Despite his age and position, 37 year old Peter Clarke is the club's third highest appearance maker and third highest goalscorer this season. The EFL veteran is nearing 100 appearances for the club, having already played for Everton, Blackpool, Southend and Huddersfield. Clark has also been shown a team-high eight yellow cards this season.
With a new Manager at the helm, Jose Baxter has seemingly taken on a new lease-of-life, scoring two of his three goals this season within the past five games. Baxter scored twice in the 2014/15 opening game of the season victory over Stevenage at the Lamex Stadium.
- Key Stats:
Oldham have only won by a single goal once this season. The majority of Oldham's victories have been obtained by a margin of 2 goals or more - 11 wins.
There have been 3 goals or more in 56% of Oldham’s games this season.
Oldham have both scored and conceded more goals at home this season than on the road, having scored 30 and conceded 23 at home, whilst scoring 22 and conceding 21 away from home.
The Latics have kept clean sheets in just 18% of home games, compared to an impressive 47% away.
Both sides have scored the around a third of their goals after the 79th minute, with Oldham having scored 16 of their goals (30.7%) after the 79th minute and Stevenage having scored 14 of their goals (35.8%) after the same time.
- Journalist’s View, with Joe Bray from the Manchester Evening News:
Who could be Oldham's key player this Saturday?
"Callum Lang has been with Oldham all season on loan from Wigan, and gone from strength to strength. Under Paul Scholes he's been played as a striker rather than a winger and is full of confidence at the moment. If Oldham set up to attack, his energy will be central to their chances of getting a positive result."
What do Stevenage have to do to beat Oldham?
"Last weekend, Bury picked Oldham off in the second half with clever balls in between the centre-backs and full-backs. Paul Scholes will surely have worked on that this week, but by attacking the Latics defence, Stevenage can cause problems and disrupt Oldham's game plan."
What do Oldham have to do to beat Stevenage?
"Attack. They have quality players in attack capable of scoring goals in League Two like Lang, Jose Baxter and Gevaro Nepomuceno. But Oldham are inconsistent at the moment and will need to score when they are on top to feed some confidence into the team."
Result Prediction?
"Oldham could easily win by the odd goal as lose by one. Stevenage are no pushovers, so a draw is a good bet. 1-1."
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