All attention will be on Merseyside this afternoon yet Manchester United's visit to Liverpool is not the only grudge game north-west England has to offer. Wigan Athletic v Bolton Wanderers has some way to go to match the Anfield attraction in terms of size, history and tradition, not to mention television ratings in Asia, but with both teams in the relegation zone the lesser-known Lancashire derby will not be short of significance.

With Blackburn Rovers currently the meat in the bottom-three sandwich, Saturday's results could be important for just about the whole of the region. Until Fulham catapulted themselves away from the relegation zone with that resounding 6-0 defeat of Queens Park Rangers a fortnight ago, the bottom three made up the same trio – Fulham, Bolton and Blackburn – that gained promotion together in 2001 and have stayed together in the top flight since.

It would be more remarkable still were the same three teams to go down together after a decade of Premier League football, but Fulham at least look a little too lively for that. The immediate task for Wigan and Bolton is to try to emulate the London club's feat, beating another relegation rival by a margin convincing enough to climb halfway up the table and settle supporters' nerves.

Such things are still possible at this relatively early stage, though neither Wigan nor Bolton appear to possess the sort of firepower to put six goals past anyone. Both teams have been handicapped by losing key players from last season, Stuart Holden and Lee Chung-yong in Bolton's case, whereas Wigan have had Hugo Rodallega out injured but more culpably failed to replace Charles N'Zogbia and Tom Cleverley. Both clubs, however, will have identified this game as winnable after a series of difficult fixtures.

Wigan played the three promoted teams in their first three games of the season, managed to beat only one of them and are now looking upwards at all of them, partly as a result of losing the following four in a row against Manchester City, Everton, Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa. Bolton are on a six-match losing sequence and, while some would argue they are in a slightly false position at the foot of the table after having to play City, Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea in just over a month, it cannot be denied that losing at home to Norwich City in the middle of that demanding schedule suggested normal service may not automatically be resumed with the return of normal opponents.

Ever the realist, Owen Coyle has worked out that the difference between this season and last, in terms of results in the corresponding fixtures against the same five big clubs, has been a single point. "Last season we drew at home with United, this time we lost by five goals," he said. "That's a worry, of course, but in the overall scheme of things the success of our season probably doesn't depend on those particular fixtures. No one was saying we were in trouble last season, everyone was saying we were competing well and were a difficult side to beat, but in fact we were only one point better off."

A single point was also what Bolton earned from their short trip to the DW last season, and though another draw seems Saturday's likeliest outcome, it is not what either club needs to kickstart a faltering campaign. "It has turned into a huge game for both teams," Coyle says. "We can leapfrog Wigan if we win and they will feel three points is just as important. It is a derby game, we have never found it particularly easy against Wigan, but we know we are capable of going there and winning."

Roberto Martínez agrees it is a genuine derby. "I rate a derby in terms of what it means to the fans, and the passion generated by this fixture means it's like no other," the Wigan manager says. "The stakes are high but there's also a great deal of respect between the two sides and the two sets of supporters. Any time you play in a derby it is more than just a game, but this time both the clubs have a real need for the points, so it should be interesting. Having said that, we need to be realistic about where we are. We are still in October, it is still very early in the season."

Tell that to Steve Kean, who had to endure a demonstration by Blackburn supporters calling for his sacking in September. Just returned from a short visit to India to see the owners, he says they share his concern for results but are still backing him to the extent of allowing him to appoint his own choice of coaching assistant in Paul Clement, lately of Chelsea but a colleague of Kean's for several seasons at Fulham. "The owners want the results to improve and I've told them I think they will," Kean says. "The whole thing will come together as long as we stand strong. The owners find the fans' attitude difficult to understand, but we all know we need to climb the table. The bottom line is that if we don't win games I won't change minds."

Blackburn have what many supporters will consider a winnable game on Saturday, away to QPR, and Kean himself is bullishly optimistic. "I've seen QPR a couple of times already this season, I saw them against Newcastle and thought they were a bit unlucky, they played well. Then I went to the game at Craven Cottage, and Fulham just had a very good day, though I think they got about QPR very well. They were aggressive from the start and that's what I'd like us to do. QPR have some good strengths in attack but if you are aggressive enough I think there might be weaknesses to exploit." The same, though, is true of those north-west clubs that kick off today's games in the relegation zone.