DAVID Jones admits he’s enjoying his run in the Wigan Athletic side – and intends to make it as hard as possible for Roberto Martinez to leave him out.
The former Manchester United junior has started the last two Premier League matches in the absence of broken leg victim Ben Watson.
Watson himself had taken advantage of an injury to James McArthur to win back his place in the side, underlining Martinez’s options in that position.
McArthur is fit again after a dead leg, making late cameos in the last two matches, and has his sights set on a recall at Newcastle on Monday.
Jones, though, is hoping to have done enough against Reading and Manchester City to have warranted another shot on Tyneside.
“It has been nice to get consecutive starts in the middle, and with more games I think my game can improve more,” Jones said.
“I’m enjoying stepping in and hopefully my performances can help me to get even more games.
“As a team we have to keep performing the way we have in the last two games, especially with such a busy period of games over Christmas.”
Latics will travel to the North East looking to bounce back from the disappointment of the 2-0 home defeat to the champions, after giving as good as they had received for three-quarters of the game.
“Up until their first goal we looked comfortable, and prevented them from having any clear goal-scoring opportunities,” Jones acknowledged.
“Off the ball I thought we were superb for most of the game, although we could have done with a little more confidence and belief when we had the ball.
“We expect ourselves to be calm on the ball and it was difficult against such a top-quality team, but I think we played the same way as we did against Reading and tried to move the ball quickly but accurately.
“We could have done more to hurt them and we had some good chances to throw players forward and we couldn’t take advantage.”
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