Wigan Warriors vs Sheffield Eagles Predictions: Back Eagles to cover the handicap

2022 Betfred Challenge Cup winners Wigan take the first step to try and win back the trophy they yielded to Leigh last year, when hosting Championship side Sheffield on Friday night. (kick-off 20:00 GMT). We've asked George Riley to preview this game and give us his betting predictions.

Buoyed by new long-term deals for head coach Matty Peet and his coaching staff, Wigan will be highly unlikely to slip up at home to the Eagles, who opened their league campaign last Friday night with an impressive home win over Toulouse.

Few would give Sheffield a chance here, and how close they can keep it will depend on how strong a team Peet decides to send out.

Team news

Wigan make just one change to their squad with hooker Kruise Leeming back fit following his troublesome ankle injury, and star full-back Jai Field dropping out. Field has been carrying an injury so is left out to recover, with Ryan Hampshire expected to start at full-back instead. Hampshire played in the halves in the recent big win away against London Broncos.

Other than that it is the strongest squad that the World Club champions and defending Super League champions could field, with boss Peet confirming that he wants to build momentum with consistency in selection.

Mark Aston makes a couple of changes to his Sheffield squad that stunned Toulouse in the opening round of the Championship. Matty Marsh and Lewis Peachey are back available, with Kyle Wood and Bayley Liu dropping out.

The Eagles have a great depth of Super League experience in their ranks, including former Leeds flyer Ben Jones-Bishop, centre Kris Welham and prop Eddie Battye.

Sheffield Eagles +51.5 points Hcp @ 10/11

Wigan have never lost at home to Sheffield and will win this game, no matter how vocal the Cup romantics may be. But whether they go on a scoring crusade to eclipse the huge handicap is another question.

The Warriors were not at their brilliant best last week at Salford, a game that the Red Devils contrived to throw away in the last few minutes with some baffling decision-making to let Peet’s men off the hook.

There will be plenty of tries in this game and Sheffield are guaranteed a pretty humbling evening, but it may not be the huge blowout many would expect. The Eagles beat one of the Championship favourites last week and that will have given them plenty of early-season confidence.

Mark Aston sides are always well-drilled, and although this will be a comfortable Wigan win I have my doubts that they will ease past the handicap.

As such I’m going for the Eagles to keep it relatively respectable.

Tyler Dupree anytime tryscorer @ 6/4

In a game that is likely to see a flurry of Wigan tries, there seems little point going for the wingers and centres at odds against – so we will stick with the formula that has served us well this year, namely big prop Tyler Dupree to maintain his impressive scoring return.

The England front row has impressed since his move from Salford and has already come up trumps for us in this column with a try at decent odds, so a 6/4 punt on another Dupree score against Championship opposition feels like another good shout.

You can find our Rugby League Betting Tips from the likes of George Riley and Paul Sculthorpe over at our Insights hub