Fox news not fantastic for Wigan Athletic boss

The 33-year-old had only just returned to full training after being out since the 3-0 home defeat to Brentford on November 9.

Indeed, that appearance was his comeback after being out since the 3-1 loss at QPR on August 24.

And Fox’s injury nightmare has continued, with the former Scotland international pulling up lame in an Under-23 game on Wednesday afternoon.

With Charlie Mulgrew having returned to Blackburn midway through his season-long loan, Latics now only have two recognised senior centre-backs – Cedric Kipre and Chey Dunkley – as well as Kal Naismith, who has done a sterling job filling in of late.

Right-back Dujon Sterling and winger Michael Jacobs (both hamstring) remain sidelined, although striker Kieffer Moore could return to the fold for the first time in six weeks after a calf injury.

“Kieffer coming back into the equation is a big boost given the amount of time he’s been out injured,” acknowledged Latics boss Cook.

“We’ve had a few injuries of late with Dujon, Michael and Danny, but getting Kieffer back is definitely a plus point for us.”

Latics are hoping to arrest a worrying run of results which has seen them win only one of their last 16 matches.

That sequence has seen them slip to second bottom of the Championship, although they remain only two points adrift of safety with 19 matches to go.

Cook’s side are aiming for revenge against a Swansea side who somehow won 2-1 at the DW earlier in the season, despite being second best for virtually all of the game.

Latics also led 2-0 in the corresponding fixture last term, before coming away with a 2-2 draw, and Cook expects another open game at the Liberty Stadium.

“It’ll be a very good game for us to be involved in, as we’ve got similar styles of play,” he said.

“Swansea are going very well in the league and will have ambitions to get into the play-offs.

“I really enjoyed our first-half performance at Swansea last year, we were excellent in that first half.

“We should have been out of sight given the 45 minutes we had, but we couldn’t see it through.

“We’ve got to give the same level of performance as we did last year, but this time we’ve got to see the game through.

“We’ve always put patches of form together, but the biggest challenge - and this is the same for every team battling it out at the bottom – is consistency.

“We’ve got to work hard to put that consistency together for the rest of this season.

“We’ve got to take inspiration from the run-in we had last season to make sure we get the results that we – and the supporters – want and deserve.”

Striker Joe Garner, who scored both goals in the 2-2 draw at Swansea last term, is pushing for a recall.