Super League: Warrington Wolves v Widnes Vikings preview
Warrington Wolves will be eager to return to winning ways against Widnes Vikings following an indifferent start.
Last Updated: 17/04/14 1:50pm
Last year's losing Grand Finalists have lost four of their eight league outings this season, including suffering a 25-12 home defeat to Hull KR last time out.
Widnes, who have a game in hand, are two-points clear of the Wolves, although Denis Betts' men were thumped 42-20 against a red-hot Catalan Dragons last Saturday.
The Wolves are out for revenge after Widnes did the double on them in 2013. The Vikings claimed a 16-6 win at the Halliwell Jones Stadium following a 38-22 success earlier in the year.
Warrington have props Roy Asotasi and Ben Evans back, along with hooker Micky Higham, to help offset the loss of Paul Wood and Simon Grix, who were injured in the defeat by Hull KR.
"We are focusing on Widnes; to go out there, do our best and try to get the bragging rights back to Warrington," said head coach Tony Smith.
Started well
"Widnes certainly started well. I think, over the last couple of weeks, their form has been a bit patchy. They'll come in off a defeat to Catalan so they'll be trying to bounce back and find that form they had earlier in the season."
Widnes welcome back second rower Danny Galea after he missed his first match for the club in Perpignan while threequarters Cameron Phelps and Willie Isa are also back in the reckoning to offset the loss of Macgraff Leuluai and Declan Hulme to injury.
"The games we play against Warrington or St Helens really can decide local bragging rights over your neighbours," said Betts.
"Our mentality is that we want to win every game, and a local derby against Warrington is one of those games which is great for our supporters.
"I think these kinds of matches give the fans the chance to feel a great sense of pride in the team, and the result last year really showed our intentions as a club."
Warrington Wolves: Asotasi, Atkins, Bridge, Currie, Dwyer, England, B. Evans, R. Evans, Harrison, Higham, Hill, Laithwaite, J. Monaghan, M. Monaghan, Myler, O'Brien, Ratchford, Russell, Waterhouse.
Widnes Vikings: Brown, Cahill, Clarke, Clough, Craven, Dean, Flynn, Galea, Gerrard, Gore, Hanbury, Isa, Johnson, Joseph, Kavanagh, Owens, Phelps, Tickle, White.
Watch Warrington take on Widnes live on Sky Sports 1 at 2.45pm on Friday.