Before the game Sunderland had drawn their previous four Premier League games.
Speaking about his sides narrow 1-0 win over the Latics, Martin O'Neill said: “I’m delighted with the result. After [Steven] Fletcher scored I thought we might have been able to press on and get another goal but as time was getting on, it started getting a bit more edgy and the crowd were worrying about holding onto the win.
“But we hung on and got the win and that was so important for us today. The first half was end-to-end stuff, but in the second after we got the goal I think it became a little bit more unsettled.
“We remain unbeaten but we had to fight for it. I think we can now improve on that and we’ll get confidence from this win.
“Winning is so important and getting those three points on the board means a lot, especially after the disappointment of conceding a goal so late last week.”