Manager John Sheridan will come across a familiar face in the opposition dugout tomorrow as Port Vale are the visitors to SportsDirect.com Park.
The gaffer knows Rob Page very well from his time at Chesterfield, with the Port Vale boss serving Sheridan as a defender for two years.
He said: “They are a strong and organised team. I know Rob Page really well and it’s his first managerial job and he’s doing a good job. I had him as a player at Chesterfield and he’s a good lad.
"He’s got them organised and they are a solid outfit. They are not too far off the play-offs so I think Pagey will believe that he can get in there.
“They will come to us and look at the position we are in the league and believe they can get something from the game.
"He will know we are on a decent run and he knows me so we will give him a hard game. We are at home and playing with confidence so hopefully we’ll get the three points.”
This is the first of two home games for Latics this week, and the manager admitted he is only concentrated on Latics and not anyone else around him.
“There are two home games and I’m trying to win both, that’s all I’m thinking about,” he commented.
"Everyone was telling me Fleetwood will get beat there, Chesterfield will get beat there and it doesn’t work like that. I don’t look at other teams, I only look at ourselves and that’s all I’m concentrated on.
“I’m not bothered who is playing who because you can’t predict a result because you don’t know what’s going to happen in this league.
“All we are trying to do is win every game that we play in so we find ourselves closer to teams because we’ve just concentrated on ourselves.
"People can tell me we are on a good run but it’s going to go right until the end. We’re going to lose games and we are hopefully going to win games.
“It’s not going to be easy to stay up but I believe we will."
The manager gave some team news ahead of the game: “Aaron Amadi-Holloway will be fit and we will wait on Forte to see how he is.
“The squad is strong and hopefully whatever formation and team I pick will always be one for us to try and win the game."
Watch the full interview on Latics PlayerHD.