Felipe Scolari's first visit to Wigan will not be a journey into the unknown for the Chelsea manager, although he does admits to one uncertainty in his planning for today's game.

There are squads in the Barclays Premier League with more household names than the Latics have but Scolari declares good knowledge of their team, especially France midfielder Olivier Kapo, on-loan Egyptian striker Amr Zaki plus Latin Americans Antonio Valencia and Wilson Palacios.

And then there is Emile Heskey.

'I know Heskey,' Scolari confirms.

'Brazil played against him in the 2002 World Cup inKorea and we had some special idea about him at that time.

'He is difficult for the one who has to mark him because he has a strong body and jumps very well. He can stop the ball until the players arrive near him. He is a good player.

'Wigan are good team, a strong team. I saw their game against West Ham, they lose but played very well. I have asked the players and they have said to me that playing Wigan is very difficult.'

Scolari is waiting to discover the condition of a JJB Stadium pitch that was notorious last season and, with the Wigan Warriors rugby league team having played through the summer, has been denied a conventional regeneration period.

'If the pitch is not good, we need to change some things and we discuss that in training,' Scolari explains.

'But I don't have the players for long ball because Deco is short, Ashley Cole is not tall. We have to play our style, whatever the pitch.'