Wigan Athletic boss aiming to build on 'sudden' goal rush

Despite remaining in the drop zone, three points adrift of safety, Latics have picked up since the turn of the year, with only one defeat – against promotion-chasing Preston – in the last five matches.

And Cook says they need to stay on the front foot against the Lions – the first of three matches in the space of seven days, with trips to Reading and West Brom to follow next week.

“In football these days, you can look at stats as much as you want,” he said.

“But the brutal reality is we’re still in the bottom three.

“We are obviously desperate to get out, and to do that we have to win games.

“And with 13 games still to go, it’s very much all to play for.

“There’s so much to be optimistic about, and let’s look forward to this weekend and hopefully another positive performance and result.”

Although the last five games have returned eight points – and eight goals – Cook says his side haven’t changed their approach at all.

“One of the problems these days is there’s so much emphasis put on formations, and tactics and systems,” he said.

“But we haven’t done anything different in recent weeks to the rest of the season.

“Suddenly we’re scoring goals – two against Cardiff, two against Middlesbrough, two against Sheffield Wednesday, three at Birmingham on New Year’s Day.

“But the brutal reality is we haven’t scored anywhere near enough over the course of the season.

“If you’re scoring goals, you’re winning games. And if you’re not scoring goals, you’re not winning games.

“But it is great to see a few of our attacking players coming into form.

“And your flair players do tend to dictate in general how well you will do positively.

“On the flip side, your defensive players will tend to dictate how well you will do negatively.

“One’s job is to score goals, and the other’s job is to keep goals out.

“Now we seem to be scoring more goals, we seem to be getting better results.

“If you’re scoring goals, the results will follow...and it’s important we are as positive as possible against Millwall.”