Bruce: Bolton game is massive

Wigan boss Steve Bruce is ready for the Premiership match with Bolton at the weekend and has labelled the match as a massive game if they are to survive in the Premiership this season. Wigan could move up to six points clear of Bolton with a victory.

Bruce said: "Emile is thankfully OK. Naturally I was worried but he is fine and he has been getting back to what he can be.

"We saw this against City and he was a handful for Arsenal. A few goals would now really be the icing on the cake.

"We're up for the Bolton game because it's a huge clash. I labelled the Bolton game a cup final last weekend and it is so very important. Moving six points clear of Bolton would be a huge gap at this stage of the season. It will be a lot to make up in the remaining games and it's certainly tighter than ever at the bottom. I never thought Newcastle and Middlesbrough would be involved in the relegation battle but they've been sucked into it - the more the merrier you might say!

"We haven't been conceding goals. When we lost heavily at Bolton before Christmas I drove back home thinking we were in serious trouble. We needed to get resilience from somewhere and we've done just that. We are now looking a difficult team to beat.

"We had taken one point from 11 games beforehand but the players deserve a lot of praise for the way they've responded.

"They knuckled down, we made changes and we look far better. I'm not a big one for stats but I studied them after the Arsenal game and we covered a terrific distance.

"We again showed tremendous character and it's a team effort."