BRUCE EYES BACK-TO-BACK WINS

Bruce - glad of recognition.

Manager Steve Bruce believes Wigan have finally been recognised as an established Barclays Premier League force.

The Latics face Middlesbrough on Saturday aiming to extend their positive start to the season, which has seen them go unbeaten in their last four league games.

Wigan were staring at relegation when Bruce took charge last November having slumped to an eight-match losing streak.

But the former Birmingham boss managed to secure a fourth straight season in the top flight while putting an end to their wretched record against the 'big four' by taking points off Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool.

Although Wigan lost their opening two games this term against West Ham and Chelsea, they regrouped and demonstrated their new-found confidence by beating Manchester City 2-1 in last Sunday's televised clash.

"I think when you produce a performance live on Sky, it brings home the potential of the club and the individual players that we've got," said Bruce.

"Despite all the millions and the flair players that Manchester City have got, we can actually go out there and take them on.

"I got a huge number of text messages saying what a good team we are and the good players we've got, never mind what Manchester City have got.

"That's nice to hear, and I think the football world now knows that we've got some good players here.

"We can certainly compete, and we've proved that over the last few months,"

Bruce added. "The big games we see as a big challenge and the response from the team since I came to the club has been fantastic.

"They deserve the pats on the back for turning the situation around.

"They've now got themselves into a situation where people are talking about them, which has probably never happened before.

"A lot of fans and pundits are saying that Wigan look as if they've got a decent team and anybody who goes to the JJB Stadium will be in for a game.

"We enjoy all that, but we can't get carried away with it. We're Wigan, we'll always keep our feet on the ground and keep punching above our weight and try to make sure it's a successful season.

"If you take anything for granted in this game, it will kick you in the teeth."

Despite their turn-around in fortunes, Wigan are yet to string successive league wins together under Bruce.

Victory on Saturday will put paid to that record and send the Latics into the international break on a high.

"The Manchester City game's gone as far as I'm concerned," said Bruce. "It's always nice to take a big scalp but now all our attention is focused on Middlesbrough.

"At the start of the season this is one you target as a potential three points and without a good performance against them we won't go back-to-back.

"That's the big challenge for us, to get back-to-back wins, because we haven't done that in the Premier League since I've been here.

"If we can go into the international break with another good result then we can really say we've had a decent start.

"We lost to West Ham and Chelsea but since then we've produced a run of good form which we hope to continue.

"The target was to get through to the international break with 10 points from the first seven games and now we've set our sights on 11 because that's what we'll have if we can win on Saturday."

Former Middlesbrough midfielder Lee Cattermole is Wigan's only injury doubt due to a slight hamstring strain, with Michael Brown on standby.