Fixtures against Sheffield Wednesday and Barnsley will see the Latics play their two games in hand on sixth placed Reading and hopefully catch up to within a point of the Royals.
The present md-table position has long been hailed as false given the two games in hand that have been stored up, but the games do not represent points and it will be tough to come away with six points from both games.
The Latics have already done 60 odd minutes of the hard-work against Sheffield Wednesday before Christmas in the original replay before torrential rain forced a second half abandonment at Hillsborough.
Sandwiched in between the two games will be the trip to face Cardiff in the FA Cup. A game that undoubtadly represents a distraction from the bread and butter of the play off chase.
Ordinarily in wouldn't be a bad thing to see a departure from the cup competition to launch a full tilt on the league. However there are some serius extenuating crcumstances thi year with the Latics proudly defending the Cup that was so miraculously won in May last year.
The pressure is on Uwe Rosler and the ever tiring squad. Long term injuries aside and there are a few niggling injuries creeping into the team.
Star forward Nick Powell is edging closer to fitness and will be an important player over the two games if he can return to fitness.
Whilst loanee additions Martyn Waghorn, Nicky Maynard, and Josh MacEachran will help to take pressure of the Manchester United man. We've long been reliant on a dwindlingnumber of attacking options and it would be a tremendous boost if either of the aforementioned trio can hit form over the closing months of the season.
With Reading out of the FA Cup they face a tough test against Q.P.R. whilst the Latics go to South Wales and face Cardiff City. Should the R's do the Latics a favour, and Rosler's side pick up six points against Wednesday and the Tykes, the leageu table could look very different come March.