Latics boss Roberto Martinez remained upbeat after last Monday’s 2-2 draw at fellow strugglers West Bromwich Albion as his Latics side continue to languish in the EPL’s bottom three.

Wigan dropped to 19^th, a point behind 17^th-placed Birmingham City, who have two games in hand.

But they had a relatively successful transfer window which saw them keep hold of what Martinez described as “prize assets”, most notably mercurial French attacking midfielder Charles N’Zogbia.

Martinez will need all his playing resources, however, having lost centre-back Gary Caldwell and wing-back Maynor Figueroa to injury at the Hawthorns, ahead of this Saturday’s visit of fellow-Lancastrians Blackburn Rovers.

Caldwell completed the West Brom game, despite fracturing a cheekbone. And Figueroa pulled up sharply in the closing stages.

Martinez said: “Gary is the biggest negative we picked up. He is a true captain and a great leader and we are going to miss him. We are going to assess him today (Thursday) but it is really not good news.

“Maynor has a hamstring injury and we will also assess him (today).”

Martinez believes that Wigan have made “a bit of a statement” by keeping N’Zogbia, despite late efforts by the 24-year-old’s former club Newcastle to snap him up in the transfer window’s final hours.

He said: “Our intention this window was to finish with a stronger squad…we didn’t want to lose any of the prize assets. We managed to do that.”

Wigan also signed Kilmarnock striker Conor Sammon for an undisclosed fee on Monday night.