Wigan Athletic: Leam Richardson remaining positive as he prepares his side to face Watford

His side head into this weekend’s match against Watford on the back of five defeats in their last six games.

Richardson states the mood in the squad remains positive, as they prepare for a tough test at the DW Stadium.

He said: “Watford pose a challenge just like any other Championship club.

“They have 15 or 16 players there with Premier League experience, with some fantastic individuals.

“In my opinion, I’d pitch them up there in the top three teams in the division.

“They turned down multi-million pounds for a few of their players in the last window, and I’m sure bidders will be lurking around in January.

“Only two minutes ago they were a Premier League team and we were in League One.

“Our lads are relishing the challenge each week.

“The mood in our camp is very positive, we’re used to being in a really competitive nature, and Saturday will be no different.

“It’s there for all to see that our home form needs to improve. It’s something we will work on and address.

“We’re going to keep pushing and not accept anything, having an energetic edge to our organisation.

“We knew our challenges at the start of the season. We are still building, we are on a journey and won’t get emotionally attached to different results, that’s the job of social media.

“Our job is to keep consistent in what we do. The performance levels have, on the whole, been very high, and if we keep doing that we will be in a positive direction.

“There’s no point looking at the table until after January as there’s nothing to be won or lost.

“You’ve got 46 games to play, and come the end of the season you’ll have the points you deserve, and by then you’ll know if we’ve reached our success criteria.

“No point getting carried away now, it’s a bit too early for me. It’s for the outside influences to get emotionally attached to things, not ourselves.

“People always want to latch on to the negatives, but we are a group who want to push the positives.”