Well Latics have definitely made hard work of it since October, winning just 2 games in that period and landing us near to the relegation dog fight.

It looked all so good after some great results and us scoring for fun early in the season, but somehow it has all turned around and our strikers can’t hit a barn door.

The first 6 games we looked like promotion contenders and even in the game at Villa Park, I feel we were unlucky to get nothing from the game. I must say I don’t feel very confident going into the return leg this Saturday at the DW Stadium.

If I could get my optimistic head on, I would hope that this was the game where it all started to click back into place, with a performance like the one where we played West Brom off the Park, beating them in the process.

But realistically we have only won once since then, without the likes of Powell, plus Grigg not being fully fit (either that or he is in a very bad run of form), we are going to find this game very difficult.

We cannot rely on the teams below us not getting results, we do need to start notching points up on the board, or the last 4 months is going to be very nervy.

I usually look at how the bookies see it and on football tips Saturday EPL matches we are looking to them like we will lose, but at the moment outside the relegation certs.

Hull have shown that it is possible to get clear by hitting a run of form, they have won 5 on the bounce and are well clear of danger now, where a month ago they were second bottom. So it is possible.

Looking at the Wigan Athletic v Aston Villa head to head doesn’t prove happier reading, with us trailing by 5 wins to 1 on home turf, with 3 draws in the 9 League games we have competed in.

We are on a run of winning just 2 games in 14, against Blackburn and West Brom. Goals are dried up and defensively we have been very sketchy.

On the plus side, Villa themselves are not exactly living up to their promotion billing, winning just once in their last 7 games, and drawing a lot.

There may be a lot of doom and gloom around Wigan at the moment but if we can take our chances and beat them, we would only be 9 points behind them.

Let’s see the positives, we have generally been in every game. The first 20 to 30 minutes especially have been the best for us, we just don’t take advantage of the possession and chances.

We have had some serious setbacks with injuries all at once, but the likes of Massey, MacDonald, Grigg and Powell are now coming back in to first team contention and that can only be a good thing.

The new owners and Chairman have not seen us win since our victory over Blackburn, so it has been a while and I am sure they have let Paul Cook know about it.

Villa have been very ordinary all season and we are due a win at home against them, why not this week?

If the football isn’t grabbing you at the moment, there is always the friendly ‘guess the gate competition’ on the forum that always provides good competition, click here to join in.

Coming soon: What is the real state of play with ‘Standing and Drinking’ at Football Grounds?

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