The Latics put in another impressive performance but came away with no points as Ali Al-Habsi's first half error cost the club a crucial moral boosting point.
Roberto Martinez had his counter part Mancini tied in knots with his tactics as Adrian Lopez came in at right back for Steve Gohouri. Other changes saw Tom Cleverley on the right flank instead of Charles N'Zogbia who had picked up a knock in training.
Whilst Cleverley looked a little rusty from his recent first team absence, on the other flank, Victor Moses was once again opening up chances at will.
Both Hugo Rodallega and James McCarthy guilty of missing fairly decent chances in wuick sucession.
The telling moment came with just five minutes of the first half remaining as Ali Al-Habsi allowed David Silva's shot to squirm through his legs.
It was a cruel blow for both the goalkeeper and the Latics who had been the better side going forward for much of the half.
Also worth noting was the impact of Conor Sammon who came on as a late substitute for Momo Diame.
The striker, signed from Kilmarnock, nearly made an immediate impact as he fired wide after a neat one-two with Hugo Rodallega. On view of this nine minutes, Sammon is certainly ready for the first team, and perhaps at the expense of Hugo Rodallega who is very much living on past glories at the moment.
The question is clearly related to lady luck. If only she would smile down on the Latics, Roberto Martinez would be a much happier man.
The results have not been good enough in recent weeks, but hte performances have merited much more points, so it is hard to be critical of either the manager or the players.
A trip to Stamford Bridge aside, every single game from now until the end of the season is one in which the Latics can expect to pick up points. There is also just six points from the present position at the foot of the table and a position in midfield.
The table does indeed make for gloomy reading, but on the pitch and on the fixture list, things are now looking much brighter. Focus on the positives and be ready to offer SUPPORT for the crucial clash with Birmingham in almost two weeks time.
Here is the reaction of the two managers.
Roberto Martinez
The way this season is developing I don't think it's a case of looking at the table after every weekend. There are many twists and turns left in this competition and now we need to focus on how many points we can collect in the final nine games.
We have 27 points on the board and we need to get to 40 as soon as possible. On the one hand it is disappointing not to get anything out of the game, but in terms of the performance I thought we were magnificent and controlled the pace of the game in a difficult venue.
We had more possession, more corners and arguably the better chances, particularly the one right at the death. To come to Eastlands and play face-to-face with a Manchester City side full of quality, world-class players shows clearly the progress we're making, and in time we'll get the points we deserve.
It was a day that football did not want to reward our hard work, but overall we played with great bravery and if we continue to perform in this way we'll achieve our aim.
Ali has been magnificent all season and he'll carry on being the asset to the team he has been from the beginning.
After the goal it was all about the response and I was very proud of the players in the way they continued showing high standards, and although we didn't get any points from the game what we did come away with is a real sense of belief which will allow us to continue progressing.
Maybe we haven't got the points in the short-term but we'll certainly get the benefits long-term. He's [Conor Sammon] ready having worked so hard in training and earned the chance to make his debut.
I felt he was really bright, looked as though he had played at this level for a long time and created the best chance of the game at the death. It's only a matter of time before he takes those chances and he'll have a big role to play between now and the end of the season.
Roberto Mancini
In the first half we played well and had three or four chances. The second half was very hard. We were very tired. The difficulty was that the players played three days ago.
It was important that we won the game after we lost two points against Fulham. I have a team that for 28 games was either top or second. But when you have only 14 or 15 players fit it is very difficult.
We have five days before the Kyiv game. The problem is that we are playing every three or four days. We go to Kyiv and play, fly back in the night, it is very difficult. But this is how it is for a top team.
The players want to win every game, but sometimes it's not possible. We haven't the players available. But the situation is good because we have two cup games now that it's important to get a good result in.
The table
Latest Barclays Premier League 2010/2011 league table
Latest match Saturday, 5th March 2011 (click column headings to re-sort)
| Choose division/season | or view grid |
| Home | Away | Overall | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Team | Pl | W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | GD |
| 1 | Manchester United | 28 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 39 | 9 | 4 | 8 | 2 | 23 | 18 | 17 | 9 | 2 | 62 | 27 | 60 | +35 |
| 2 | Arsenal | 28 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 30 | 12 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 27 | 15 | 17 | 6 | 5 | 57 | 27 | 57 | +30 |
| 3 | Manchester City | 29 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 23 | 11 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 22 | 14 | 15 | 8 | 6 | 45 | 25 | 53 | +20 |
| 4 | Chelsea | 27 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 26 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 22 | 14 | 14 | 6 | 7 | 48 | 23 | 48 | +25 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 27 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 19 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 19 | 21 | 13 | 8 | 6 | 38 | 31 | 47 | +7 |
| 6 | Bolton Wanderers | 29 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 28 | 19 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 14 | 21 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 42 | 40 | 40 | +2 |
| 7 | Liverpool | 28 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 23 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 13 | 24 | 11 | 6 | 11 | 36 | 35 | 39 | +1 |
| 8 | Sunderland | 29 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 18 | 14 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 15 | 21 | 9 | 11 | 9 | 33 | 35 | 38 | -2 |
| 9 | Newcastle United | 29 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 32 | 22 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 12 | 19 | 9 | 9 | 11 | 44 | 41 | 36 | +3 |
| 10 | Everton | 28 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 21 | 18 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 16 | 19 | 8 | 12 | 8 | 37 | 37 | 36 | 0 |
| 11 | Fulham | 29 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 20 | 16 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 12 | 15 | 7 | 14 | 8 | 32 | 31 | 35 | +1 |
| 12 | Stoke City | 29 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 20 | 15 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 12 | 23 | 10 | 4 | 15 | 32 | 38 | 34 | -6 |
| 13 | Aston Villa | 29 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 22 | 16 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 15 | 34 | 8 | 9 | 12 | 37 | 50 | 33 | -13 |
| 14 | Blackburn Rovers | 29 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 17 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 20 | 38 | 9 | 5 | 15 | 37 | 49 | 32 | -12 |
| 15 | Blackpool | 28 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 22 | 24 | 5 | 2 | 8 | 20 | 31 | 9 | 5 | 14 | 42 | 55 | 32 | -13 |
| 16 | West Bromwich Albion | 29 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 22 | 23 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 17 | 31 | 8 | 8 | 13 | 39 | 54 | 32 | -15 |
| 17 | West Ham United | 29 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 20 | 21 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 16 | 28 | 7 | 10 | 12 | 36 | 49 | 31 | -13 |
| 18 | Birmingham City | 27 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 14 | 18 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 12 | 20 | 6 | 12 | 9 | 26 | 38 | 30 | -12 |
| 19 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 28 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 21 | 19 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 10 | 27 | 8 | 4 | 16 | 31 | 46 | 28 | -15 |
| 20 | Wigan Athletic | 29 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 16 | 30 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 11 | 20 | 5 | 12 | 12 | 27 | 50 | 27 | -23 |
Next game
Next up for the Latics is the visit of Carling Cup winners Birmingham City to the DW Stadium. The game takes place in just under a fortnights time as Birmingham face Bolton in the FA Cup this forthcomnig weekend. Surely this game must be a target for maximum points for the Latics and hopefully lady luck will make an appearance in a Wigan shirt this time.