Swansea will not allow sentiment against former manager Roberto Martinez to get in the way insists Leon Britton

Wigan will be desperate for the three points tonight

Leon Britton (GETTY IMAGES)

Leon Britton insists Swansea will not allow sentiment to get in the way when they face former boss Roberto Martinez's relegation-threatened Wigan tonight.

Wigan, who have Saturday's FA Cup final against Manchester City to look forward to, sit in the relegation zone with just three Barclays Premier League games remaining.

But victory over the Swans will move the Latics out of the drop zone as Martinez plots another remarkable escape.

Swansea, meanwhile, are also in need of a win having not tasted victory in their last seven league games.

Midfielder Britton, who played alongside Martinez as well as being managed by the Spaniard during his time in south Wales, is therefore not having any second thoughts about taking all three points off his former boss.

"We have good links with Wigan, not just with the manager but also the assistant manager (Graeme Jones), the physio, the coaches and Jordi Gomez," he said.

"There are a lot of people there with links to Swansea so it would be strange if we went up there and got a result that dented their survival hopes.

"But we have to go and try to get a win so we will concentrate on doing that."

Britton did, however, pay tribute to the resilience shown by the Latics following their good sequence of results, which, similar to their late-season run of a year ago, has given them a chance of retaining their top-flight status.

"With 10 games left of the season it looked like they were going down, but they have gone on this amazing run of form and picked up some great results," said Britton.

"They have done it the last two or three seasons. I don't know what it is - I'm sure they would rather go on a run at the start of the season instead of leaving it to the last 10 games but I suppose as long as they are safe after 38 games they won't mind how they do it."

Despite recent results, Swans boss Michael Laudrup believes just one more win would be enough to ensure his side finish in the top 10.

But the Dane, who will be without topscorer Michu due to a hamstring injury, knows just how difficult it will be to get the three points with Wigan scrapping for their lives.

He said: "They will have been looking at the fixtures knowing they have two games left at home and they have Arsenal away.

"They know getting something out of the Arsenal game will be difficult. Roberto Martinez is like every manager, he will be looking at the numbers and he will want six points from their two home games and hope it is enough.

"They will come at us with everything they have."

PA