The RFL

St Helens forward Nick Fozzard has laughed off suggestions it is crisis time for the champions as they seek to avoid a first hat-trick of engage Super League defeats for three years.

Saints will be knocked off the top of the table if their impressive run against Wigan Warriors comes to an end in the derby at Knowsley Road and Leeds Rhinos overcome Wakefield Trinity Wildcats at Headingley.

The champions have suffered back-to-back defeats at the hands of chief title rivals Leeds and Bradford Bulls over the last fortnight but Fozzard insists there is no need to panic.

"We’re playing well but everyone raises their game for us," he said.

"If such good teams as Leeds and Bradford are playing at their best and we’re playing at our best, it’s always going to be touch and go."

Wigan have lost the last seven meetings with their arch rivals, including two this season and a 75-0 Challenge Cup rout in 2005, and have not won at Knowsley Road since September 2003.

But Brian Noble’s men are on something of a high, having beaten both of Saints’ most recent conquerors in their last two outings, and this could be their best chance to halt their depressing sequence.

"We’ve been doing all right against Wigan but every game is different," warned Fozzard. "It will be full on against Wigan and exciting. You never know what is going to happen in these big games.

"Wigan are a very dangerous team. They’ve got Trent Barrett and some other dangerous players like Micky Higham and some big forwards. We will have to be at our best to beat them."

Saints welcome back scrum-half Sean Long, who has not played an engage Super League match for 10 weeks because of a nagging calf injury, and give a debut to new signing Chris Flannery, the former South Sydney forward who is making his comeback from a broken leg and replaces the suspended Jon Wilkin.

Another overseas player set to make his engage Super League debut is half-back Maxime Greseque, who hopes to get the nod for the Wildcats at Headingley, where he scored two tries for France against a Great Britain team coached by Leeds boss Tony Smith last month.

Greseque is named in John Kear’s 18-man squad for the first time as the Wildcats look to maintain their play-off hopes.

"Wakefield have been a formidable outfit this season and now have got themselves back in the top six," acknowledged Smith. "They have been able to match it with all teams this season.

"Like ourselves, they will be looking to kick start their end-of-season push with a good performance and we need to be ready for that."

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