JASON De Vos will be chief cheerleader at old club Wigan on Saturday, as Ipswich look to edge back to the top of the tablel, writes Derek Davis.Although Sunderland could move to the summit on Friday with a win at Burnley, the Blues are ready to exploit any slip up with a result at the JJB Stadium.

JASON De Vos will be chief cheerleader at old club Wigan on Saturday, as Ipswich look to edge back to the top of the tablel, writes Derek Davis.

Although Sunderland could move to the summit on Friday with a win at Burnley, the Blues are ready to exploit any slip up with a result at the JJB Stadium. De Vos captained the Latics to the Second Division title in 2002/03 and then to the brink of the play-offs last term.

While he sees it as a big game, the Canadian doesn't believe anything will be settled by the result. He said: “There will be another 10 games to play after Saturday, so promotion isn't going to be won or lost at the JJB. I know first hand what a good club Wigan are, and all the lads are really excited about coming up and playing them. From my standpoint, the ideal scenario at the end of the season would be for both Ipswich and Wigan to get promotion, with Ipswich winning the league of course.”

The 31-year-old misses out after picking up his fifth booking of the season on Saturday against QPR, one game short of the deadline where the slate is wiped clean.

He said: “I'll definitely come up to Wigan to support my team-mates, it's just a shame I won't be out on the pitch. I'm absolutely gutted to be out of the game. I was really looking forward to it, not just because it's a game between two sides at the top of the table, but also because it's against my former club. To get through 35 league games as a defender with just five yellow cards is quite an achievement, so to be suspended at this stage is so disappointing.”

De Vos is adamant he didn't deserve to be booked by Essex official Andy D'Urso. He said: “I'm not a dirty player and I felt the referee on Saturday got it wrong. Their striker tried to spin me, I got a foot on the ball but the lad went to ground. Unfortunately the referee saw that as a foul and as a bookable offence and I pay the price by not playing against Wigan. When you go into a game, you're not thinking about yellow cards or possible suspensions, but as soon as I was booked at the weekend, I knew I would miss the Wigan game.”

The Blues start their preparation for Wigan a day early by training today after their day off was swapped to yesterday, after the practice pitches were frozen.