The 2015/16 campaign is still very much in its infancy, with the first month of competitive action yet to be completed. It would be foolish to read too much into these early exchanges, with it impossible to judge at this stage what the rest of a 46-game slog will bring.
For those who have not made the brightest of starts, though, that swell of summer optimism which greets the dawn of each passing season will be on the wane and fears will be aired – albeit quietly at first – as to the direction in which things are heading.
Is there is an uncomfortable feeling of déjà vu sweeping around the DW Stadium?
For Latics, the bruises suffered during a tumble out of the Championship may be starting to fade, but there is a feeling that a few more may be suffered before the healing process can truly begin.
Cast your mind back 12 months and, in the warmth of the August early-season glow, the opening four games of what was to become a forgettable quest in the second tier delivered four points.
A year on and Wigan are back in an all too familiar boat.
Adjusting to new surroundings is never easy – the likes of Nottingham Forest and Leeds United have proved that at a League One level in the not too distant past, while Sheffield United have become firmly stuck in a rut.
The warning signs are there, and a slow start under Gary Caldwell will have only served to heighten the sense of unease.
The Latics have, again, collected four points from a possible 12 – and once again that return has been secured on the back of a win and a draw at home and two disappointing defeats on the road.
In 2014/15 it took five games – in all competitions – for an opening success to be secured, this season four, while the sixth outing delivered maximum points in front of their own supporters.
That bodes well heading into a weekend meeting with Crewe Alexandra (their sixth fixture of the current campaign) – with betting exchanges such as those at Betfair pricing Latics at odds-on to do the business at the time of writing, while they are still as short as 7/2 to bounce back into the Championship at the first time of asking.
It is, however, important to note that following a win over Birmingham City on 30 August 2014, the Latics collected just two more in the calendar year, another seven in total and went 18 without a victory at the DW – a run of form which cost Malky Mackay his job – with the damage already done by the time they edged out Brighton & Hove Albion in mid-April.
There is little to suggest that a similar slump will be endured this term, with there still every reason for Wigan to be fancied by the bookmakers in their efforts to start righting a few wrongs, but Caldwell will be painfully aware of recent history and the need to ensure that it is not allowed to repeat itself.
