Wigan's great escape last season has given manager Roberto Martinez the confidence they can pull themselves out of their current horrendous run of form.
Saturday's 2-0 defeat by Fulham made it eight losses in a row for the Latics, seven of them in the Barclays Premier League. They now sit bottom of the table having failed to pick up a single point in either September or October.
Wigan's seven-season stay in the top flight appears in serious danger but, having pulled themselves off the bottom and secured safety on the final day of last season, Martinez is not about to start panicking at such an early stage of the campaign. The Spaniard said: "October has been a shocking month for us."
He added: "I could go from things on the training ground, to suspensions, to injuries, to bad decisions, to hitting the post, and I'm delighted it's the last game in October.
"But the experience that we had last season really prepared us for anything in football. We are a young group but I think we're ready.
"The players need to forget about winning games, they just need to focus on improving individually. We've got many good options, especially going forward.
"We need to see the overall aim. We need to get 40 points, we've got five so we need 35. With the amount of games there are left, there is not a situation where you have to win the next two.
"We want to win the next one because of the momentum, the confidence, the belief that you need to stop the negative run, and that's what we need to change."
Luck was certainly not on Wigan's side as they dominated proceedings at the DW Stadium but could not find the net, with Victor Moses and Maynor Figueroa both hitting the woodwork.
Fulham hit their opponents on the break in the 41st minute to open the scoring through Clint Dempsey before Moussa Dembele wrapped up the points four minutes from time.
Source: PA
