Garry Monk delivers stark warning to Sheffield Wednesday players

The Latics are currently second-from-bottom in the Championship after winning just one of their last 17 outings.

With 18 matches remaining, Paul Cook’s men are six points adrift of safety.

But Monk, unbeaten in all five league meetings with Wigan as a manager (W2 D4), is refusing to take the Lancashire club lightly.

He said: "When I look at Wigan, they are a team that belie their position in the league. They are a much better team than what their league position says.

"I have watched a lot of their games and they have been actually very close, very unlucky in some of those games.

"If you look at their actual results, it is not like they are losing games by big margins. There have been quite a few games where there has been one goal in it.”

Wednesday enter the contest, having lost four of their last five fixtures in the league to fall to 10th in the standings.

But Friday’s FA Cup win at Queens Park Rangers helped restore some much-needed pride and lift spirits at S6 following their embarrassing 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Blackburn Rovers.

Monk said: “As I said before the QPR game, there are things we were not happy with over the Christmas period and definitely of course against Blackburn.

“The response needed to be there and it was on Friday.

“Now they need to take that into the league. That has to be the challenge and determination and that is what I am expecting to see on Tuesday.

“It (QPR) was a little way to making amends after we let ourselves and the fans down in the Blackburn game.

“We have 18 league games and a cup game and we have to perform at the level I have talked about. We know what they are capable of but the intensity you do it with has to be there.

“It is what I demand from them and it is what I expect them to demand for themselves.”