Steve Bruce believes the next month will provide a true measure of how good his Wigan side is, starting against Manchester United on Wednesday.A sixth victory in seven Premier League matches at home to Tottenham on Sunday maintained the club's seventh place in the table on 31 points.

The Latics are now as close to second-placed Chelsea as they are to third-bottom Spurs - 11 points.

However, next they face the champions away before returning to Manchester to face City on Saturday, with Liverpool visiting the JJB a week on Wednesday and then a trip to third-placed Aston Villa before the month's end.

Bruce, who denied his side were already safe from relegation, knows a bad run could prove damaging but plans to give it a go against his former team United.

"I wouldn't want to say we are safe because the Premier League is unforgiving," he said. "We are not going to get carried away. It has been a fantastic run we have been on but we could quite easily go two or three months without a win.

"We have been a consistently decent team for the last eight or 10 months and it is going for us at the moment.

"There is a bit of confidence about them and they are resilient. We will see how good we are in the next month.

"Everyone looks forward to going to Old Trafford and for obvious reasons I'll look forward to it.

"The one thing you have to do when you go to Old Trafford is enjoy yourself.

"We have given ourselves a nice cushion in terms of points. We will try to take them on if we can."

Wigan have run league leaders Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal close this season, losing by a single goal on three occasions.

And Bruce has warned all their opponents - United included - that there are no easy games against his side, especially at home.

"Tottenham paid us the hugest compliment they could do because they played their three centre-backs because of our physical presence," he said.

"Any team who comes here knows they are going to be in for a tough afternoon and the one thing you have to do is physically match us, because we are a big, powerful team.

"These players have the mentality that to beat them you will have to play well.

"We've got some big games coming up and we will find out how good we are."

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