September’s derby defeat is the Blues’ only loss on the road in the 2009/10 Barclays Premier League campaign, and this away form is in marked contrast to last season, where City’s two wins on the road in the league came at either ends of the season.
Two busy transfer windows this year have overhauled the Blues’ squad, and Hughes sees the addition of experienced, battle-hardened senior professionals in this time as central to their good form ahead of today’s visit to the DW Stadium.
He said: “It’s down to mentality, it’s down to Premier League experience. We did a little exercise comparing the team that played at Aston Villa last season, and the one that did this season, and the difference in the number of Premier League games was marked.
“A year ago (at Villa Park) our team had several hundred appearances in the Premier League, while last time out it was in the region of 2,500. That was something I was looking to address, I thought that was a weakness that we had. In terms of experience you need to understand what it takes to win Premier League games.
“We have addressed that, now we look more solid and when momentum changes in games we are able to recognise it and react to it. At times you have to dig in, certainly when away from home, but so far we have done that and got some positive results. Last year we only got 11 points away from home, this season we have already got seven so that’s a marked improvement.”
This afternoon City making the short journey to the DW Stadium, which last time out saw the home side inflict a shock defeat on Chelsea. Roberto Martinez’s side followed that with a defeat at Hull, but Hughes is wary of their potential on home turf.
He continued: “They will be frustrated at following that win by losing to Hull, but that can happen. They are a new team, with a new manager who has new ideas. They will be pleased with their start and had a great result last time at home, when they thoroughly deserved to beat Chelsea.
“We know it is not going to be easy, our record at Wigan is not great and obviously we are looking to change that. We need to start in the right way and come out of it with three points.”
Follow all the action from Wigan this afternoon on the mcfc.co.uk Match Day Centre, with text commentary, live radio coverage from Key 103, stats and photos.
