Roberto Martinez: 'We're better placed for survival'

Wigan Athletic manager Roberto Martinez has claimed that his team are better placed for Premier League survival than they were last season.

The Latics have survived relegation thanks to incredible late runs of form towards the end of the last two seasons, but the Spaniard thinks that they are better this time.

They beat Reading 3-0 yesterday to climb out of the bottom three with 11 games to go.

"We've been showing [good attacking play] this season but we've never had that clinical way of defending and keeping a clean sheet," Martinez said afterwards. "That's why I'm so pleased with the performance.

"I think we've played much better than last season. We've been very consistent in terms of performances.

"We're disappointed with the points tally we've got, we need to get more points on a consistent basis."

Wigan's next game is against Liverpool on Saturday.