Aston Villa will be looking to build upon their impressive win against play-off hopefuls Sheffield Wednesday last week when they face struggling Wigan Athletic at the DW Stadium on Saturday.

Steve Bruce’s men beat the Owls 2-0 at Villa Park thanks to a brace from top goalscorer Jonathan Kodjia, as they bounced back from defeat to Huddersfield Town last time out.

The success left Villa in 12th and with seemingly little to play for over the course of the remaining nine Championship fixtures, but supporters will hope that they can build momentum for a promotion push next term.

There is certainly potential for the clash away at the Latics to be a banana skin though, with the strugglers desperately in need of results in order to stave off the threat of relegation.

Wigan sacked manager Warren Joyce this week following a poor run of form, and the managerless outfit need to start picking up wins if they are to close the five-point gap to safety.

Here are THREE reasons Aston Villa will slip up against Wigan on Saturday…

Away form

While you would expect it to be relatively tough to adapt to dropping to the Championship after such a long spell in the top flight, there is absolutely no excuse for Villa’s dreadful away form this season.

The Midlands outfit have the sixth worst record in the division on their travels, and they have picked just three wins – and scored a measly 10 goals – in 19 Championship fixtures on the road.

It is a stat that Wigan will be well aware of on Saturday.

Mixed record against relegation battlers

While Villa have performed well when they have faced some of the sides at the bottom – think back to the 2-0 win at bottom-of-the-table Rotherham earlier this month – they have struggled against others.

In 2017 along, they have been beaten away at Cardiff City and Wolves in January, and Nottingham Forest in February, and it is a record that suggests they could struggle again this weekend if Wigan come out fighting at the DW Stadium.

Inconsistency

This is one of the reasons that Aston Villa currently find themselves in mid-table in the Championship standings.

The team has been inconsistent throughout the season – they lost five in a row towards the start of 2017, but followed up that disappointing sequence of results by winning three successive games.

While they picked up the impressive victory against Sheffield Wednesday last time out, Villa supporters certainly wouldn’t be surprised if their side put in another abject display at Wigan.

Do YOU agree, Villa fans? Let us know in the comments section below...