The Premier League's bottom side face a vital trip to West Brom on Saturday with successive games against Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United to come later in December. Latics have just nine points to their name after 14 games but Martinez feels they are unlucky not to have at least six more, a figure which would put them level with 14th-placed Baggies. Martinez, whose side only avoided relegation on the final day of last season, said: "I think we are missing six or seven points and the margins between having those points and not are very small. "That is not plucking a figure out of the air, it is how the games have gone. "But there is a real sense of responsibility in our squad and we have learnt a lot from previous seasons. "The small details have a massive effect in this league and that comes with experience. "We have developed maturity in our squad and I am pleased with the way we have dealt with those disappointing moments. "We are ready to turn all that into positives and make sure we affect the next third of the competition, which is a critical period for us. "It is important in the next 10 games we get into a position where we can regain those points we dropped softly." Wigan ended a run of eight successive defeats with a bizarre 3-3 draw against fellow strugglers Blackburn three weeks ago. They then claimed an important three points at Sunderland but any recovery was halted as they were thrashed 4-0 by Arsenal last weekend. With that setback emphasising the gulf in quality between Wigan and the top teams, it would therefore seem imperative they make the most of their trip to The Hawthorns, given what follows. But Martinez said: "Every game we want to get something, and we want to get wins. That is the way we approach every game. "In the same manner, we are not going to finish the season in three or four weeks. "We have got 24 games to go, we know the points we have got to get. Every game is an opportunity to get points. "From the outside, you don't expect Wigan to get points against the top teams but we need to work in a way that makes it difficult and can be competitive. "We know from the previous two seasons we can get points against the top sides." The pressure on West Brom is not as intense but Martinez expects them to approach the game with the same mentality as his side. He said: "I have seen the majority of their games and they will probably feel in a similar way, that they deserve more points than they have got at the moment. "I think they are a really well-balanced unit, that's what Roy Hodgson's experience brings to a side. "They are a very difficult team to break down and they have got some exciting players. "Every time you play against West Brom you know you need to compete for the whole game. "Both teams will want to win, I don't think either side will be happy with a draw and that will make it an open game, more open than it should be." If results go to form, Wigan could be in an even more perilous position by the end of the month and Martinez knows he will have to move shrewdly in the January transfer window. He said: "Maybe one or two players would give us an extra bit of life in certain positions. "But it has to be the right players, players who can help improve on what we have got - not the desperation of bringing in new faces. "We need to use the transfer window to our advantage."
