Last Updated: Fri, 23 Mar 2012 14:55
Boss Roberto Martinez has stressed that Wigan are well accustomed to being written off and that "pleasing pundits" is not their concern.
The Latics - 19th in the Barclays Premier League, three points from safety with nine games to play - have been in the relegation zone for most of the season and are being widely tipped to go down.
They face a tough-looking run of fixtures over the next few weeks, with the trip to Liverpool being followed by clashes with Stoke, Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal.
Martinez's men have suffered only one defeat in their last six matches but also won just one of those and the sequence can be interpreted as a series of missed chances.
Asked how he felt about people who might be writing Wigan off, Martinez - who guided the Latics to survival on the final day of last season - said: "I don't think it should surprise us at all - it is normal. As soon as we got promoted to the Premier League, people expected Wigan to get relegated and seven seasons later you will still get people who don't know the way we play or know the football club or how we are run behind the scenes.
"But that is our football challenge - to carry on defying the odds, playing our football and making sure we get the results we deserve. We are not here to please any pundits. We are here to keep improving as a football club and making sure we can be proud of our work at the end of the season. To do that, we need to get as many points as we can from the next 27."
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