Wigan Athletic chief Shaun Maloney calls for intensity and desire as star returns to training

Latics host League One strugglers Port Vale, who claimed a 3-2 victory in the reverse fixture earlier in December but have since won just three further games.

Having drawn with Burton Albion and been beaten at Cambridge United during the Easter weekend, Maloney insists his side must now take the initiative and be ‘hungrier’ than their opponents to stand any chance of claiming a maximum points haul.

“It’s really simple, we have to be hungrier than them for the three points,” Maloney said.

“It’s really down to that.

“We had an amazing result against Blackpool, and it’s probably something that I’ve felt throughout the season… we have our really big moments or we have a certain form, and then as a club we just seem to take our foot off the gas.

“It’s something myself and the players have been working really hard on.

“We had that big result against Blackpool, we got to that 50 points (mark) and I just feel that our intensity has dropped - all of us.

“I’ll never just put the players in one bracket. All of us have to find that intensity and that desire. We need to have that this weekend against Port Vale, and if we have that, we have a chance of winning.”

Maloney has also provided an injury update on his squad, with Callum McManaman edging ever closer to a return from the knee injury which has kept him out for close to a month.

The Scotsman said: “We’re a little bit better. We’ve had Callum McManaman who has joined training and he’s trained extremely well over the last couple of days.

“Whether this game comes too soon, I don’t know. I’ll make these decisions closer to the game.

“Steven Sessegnon (coming off against Cambridge), that was a tactical decision. I needed more attacking players on the pitch in that second half because of the way the game was. He’s fine.

“Jordan Jones still won’t make it, and Josh Stones still won’t make it probably before the end of the season.”