Defender Anthony Gerrard is relishing facing his friend and former teammate James Vaughan tomorrow afternoon.
The pair grew up playing together in the Everton youth ranks and both went on to play for Huddersfield Town for a couple of seasons.
Whilst both have dropped down a division, Gerrard is excited to come up against a familiar face.
He said: "I have known James Vaughan all my life. He is a great lad, great footballer and he wears his heart on his sleeve.
"He throws his head into any tackle and tackles anything that moves. His injury at Huddersfield suggests how honest he is.
“He goes into any tackle but if I wanted one striker who would be willing to do the nasty, dirty stuff then it would be him.
"He is on a rich vein of form but hopefully we can keep our defensive record up and stifle him. I know it will be a wholehearted battle but a fair one.
“There will be no malice, no nastiness, it will be a fair battle.”
Whilst tomorrow’s game is a derby fixture, the 31-year-old believes the game will not be make or break to Oldham Athletic’s season.
"We have got to take every game as it comes, that boring cliche. You can’t look any further than the next game because if you do then you take your eye off the ball and you start slipping up,” commented Gerrard.
"We have got another nine games to go after this one so every game is big between now and then. We’re in it for three points, there is no more points for a derby.
"You don’t get four points for a derby game. If that was the case, we would be right into it.
“It’s just another game but it has added that little bit of pressure knowing that they are in and around us and it’s a derby fixture."
The fans will be up for tomorrow’s game and Gerrard believes there support will make the difference.
“The atmosphere against Peterborough United was absolutely outstanding,” he said. “There was 7,000 here and if we got anywhere near that on Saturday, then that will be fantastic.
“They will bring a travelling crowd which will be vocal but we know if we create a good atmosphere in here then the lads will be right up for it.”
Watch the full interview on Latics PlayerHD.