The Latics opened the scoring in the first half thanks to a Charles N'Zogbia goal but Blues' spirited and determined second half performance earned them a 3-2 win courtesy of two Seb Larsson set-piece goals sandwiched by a Christian Benitez strike.

"We showed fantastic character and the resilience again was evident for everybody to see. People are now talking about our spirit and you could see it today," the Blues boss told Sky Sports after the match

"At the beginning of the season we got written-off a wee bit and people have seen us now and changed their mind about that, so that's brilliant.

"But we know how fickle it can be in the Premier League. You can lose a couple of games and rocket down the table but, at the same time, win a couple and you're rocketing up there.

"We're delighted to be in the latter category.

"Our target at the start of the season was to stay in the Premier League - we haven't done that yet.

"We've got to keep looking to get as many points on the board as we can. I don't think we have to look any further than that.

"We've got ourselves in a magnificent position in the first half of the season and the players fully deserve it but they know they can't afford to get into a comfort zone and think they've got leeway.

"They've got to be relentless onto the next game against West Ham next week."