The performance from the Latics spoke volumes of how far the club has come. The typical blinkered moaners will harp on about the fact the Latics sdidn't score and are now at the foot of the table.
Instead, look at positives. The club are two points from safety, and aside from Chelsea next week, every game is a winnable game. There was more than enough hunger evident in the performance of the players who gave everything they had for the manager.
And perhaps most important of all, the Latics made a very impressive Tottenham side look ordinary. The defensive work undertaken in the middle of the park by James McCarthy and Ben Watson was mammoth. Defending, harrying, and chasing is hard work in 90 minutes of sunshine, but both players stood out and marshalled Modric and Van der Vaart very well.
There was then the solid back four which with Emmerson Boyce at right back looks far stronger.
Going forwards there was also plenty of quality with Charles N'Zogbia, Victor Moses, and Tom Cleverley all providing different attacking options.
The only disappointment was the performance of Hugo Rodallega who once again failed to cut the mustard up front alone allowing Dawson and Bassong a far too easy ride.
Rodallega apart, this was a spirited Latics performance and a valuable point gained. Unlucky not to get all three points, there is plenty of hope that over the remaining six games of the season the two point gap to safety can be more than made up.
Here is the reaction of the two managers.
Roberto Martinez
You could see we were playing against a very strong, talented side with a great understanding of one another, but I felt we edged the game in every department.
We were very strong defensively, as a team we worked hard for each other keeping Tottenham's star players very quiet and creating enough opportunities going forward to win the game.
Sometimes results don't reflect performances but during a good game of football you could see why teams like Inter Milan and AC Milan had lots of difficulties against Harry Redknapp's team.
From a tactical point-of-view I thought the players were sensational and I was very proud of them for that.
Tottenham are a very creative side who complicate their attacks through the likes of Luka Modric and Rafael Van Der Vaart, but we stopped them enjoying their role completely and overall dealt with their team's threat well.
At the other end we created chances, and taking those chances is the difference between one point and three.
But overall we did everything we could to try and win a football game which I was very pleased with and shows how far we've come this season, growing in maturity and showing strong consistent performances.
We're finishing games the stronger side and today created two great chances in the final moments that could have won the game.
There was plenty of action at both ends of the pitch, I've seen the Victor Moses incident, felt his heels were clipped and in my opinion a penalty should have been awarded.
But we kept knocking on the door, creating chances and the front-four collectively were very sharp and did well to cause problems for Tottenham.
We're not in a position where we're relying on other team's results, we have a points tally we need to reach in order to survive and have seven games to achieve that.
That's the approach we'll be taking, there'll be 21 points to fight for and I'll guarantee no-one will be fighting harder than we will.
Harry Redknapp
We didn't play well. We normally pass the ball a lot better than that and move it quicker. We didn't create nearly enough in the final third.
I played with two strikers, van der Vaart and Modric. It was an attacking team and I thought the four of them would create big problems for Wigan, but we didn't get hold of the ball and we weren't clever enough in the final third to create many chances.
Credit to Wigan though, they did their job and were always dangerous with their pace when they attacked us. Just look at the results again and it's obvious that it's very difficult to win football matches in this league.
West Brom beat Liverpool, Chelsea couldn't win at Stoke (1-1) and West Ham looked like beating United for most if the game (2-0 up, lost 4-2). It's very difficult to get three points.
The table
| 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 | 31 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 40 | 9 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 28 | 23 | 19 | 9 | 3 | 68 | 32 | 66 | +36 |
| 2 | Arsenal | 30 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 30 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 29 | 17 | 17 | 8 | 5 | 59 | 29 | 59 | +30 |
| 3 | Chelsea | 30 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 28 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 26 | 16 | 16 | 7 | 7 | 54 | 25 | 55 | +29 |
| 4 | Manchester City | 30 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 23 | 11 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 22 | 16 | 15 | 8 | 7 | 45 | 27 | 53 | +18 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 30 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 19 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 22 | 24 | 13 | 11 | 6 | 41 | 34 | 50 | +7 |
| 6 | Liverpool | 31 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 26 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 16 | 26 | 13 | 6 | 12 | 42 | 38 | 45 | +4 |
| 7 | Everton | 31 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 26 | 22 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 16 | 19 | 9 | 14 | 8 | 42 | 41 | 41 | +1 |
| 8 | Bolton Wanderers | 31 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 28 | 19 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 15 | 24 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 43 | 43 | 40 | 0 |
| 9 | Newcastle United | 31 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 36 | 23 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 12 | 23 | 10 | 9 | 12 | 48 | 46 | 39 | +2 |
| 10 | Stoke City | 31 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 25 | 16 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 12 | 23 | 11 | 5 | 15 | 37 | 39 | 38 | -2 |
| 11 | Sunderland | 30 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 18 | 16 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 15 | 21 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 33 | 37 | 38 | -4 |
| 12 | West Bromwich Albion | 31 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 26 | 26 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 17 | 31 | 9 | 9 | 13 | 43 | 57 | 36 | -14 |
| 13 | Fulham | 30 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 20 | 16 | 1 | 8 | 6 | 13 | 17 | 7 | 14 | 9 | 33 | 33 | 35 | 0 |
| 14 | Blackburn Rovers | 31 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 19 | 13 | 3 | 2 | 11 | 20 | 38 | 9 | 7 | 15 | 39 | 51 | 34 | -12 |
| 15 | Birmingham City | 30 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 16 | 19 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 14 | 23 | 7 | 13 | 10 | 30 | 42 | 34 | -12 |
| 16 | Aston Villa | 31 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 22 | 17 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 17 | 36 | 8 | 10 | 13 | 39 | 53 | 34 | -14 |
| 17 | Blackpool | 30 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 23 | 27 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 22 | 33 | 9 | 6 | 15 | 45 | 60 | 33 | -15 |
| 18 | West Ham United | 31 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 22 | 25 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 16 | 28 | 7 | 11 | 13 | 38 | 53 | 32 | -15 |
| 19 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 31 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 24 | 22 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 12 | 31 | 9 | 5 | 17 | 36 | 53 | 32 | -17 |
| 20 | Wigan Athletic | 31 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 18 | 31 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 11 | 20 | 6 | 13 | 12 | 29 | 51 | 31 | -22 |
Next game
Next up for the Latics is the trip to Chelsea next weekend as the Latics look to further their fight against relegation. The Blues are off form and the Latics owe them one for the 8-0 thrashing there lst season.
