Boss believes Wigan Athletic will escape drop

David Artell has told the club’s official website that he expects this weekend’s away encounter at Wigan Athletic to be just as tough as Tuesday’s against play-off hopefuls Portsmouth.

Artell says that ‘you underestimate the Latics at your peril’ and predicts that they will retain their League One status at the end of the season.

The Crewe boss told us: “Wigan are a good team with good players and you underestimate them at your peril. I genuinely believe that they will stay up.

“I think they are the best side of the sides down there at the moment and I think they will have enough to pull away in the end.

“We are going into this game under no illusion. It will be just as tough as Tuesday night and we have to go into it in the right frame of mind. The work ethic has to be the same as it was against Portsmouth then hopefully our quality will come through.

“It will be difficult and we have to have the belief that we can go to Wigan Athletic this weekend and be successful.”