West Bromwich Albion suffered a setback in their bid for automatic promotion from the Championship as they slipped to a 1-0 defeat against a relegation-threatened Wigan side.

Slaven Bilic's men were targeting their third consecutive victory following impressive wins over Bristol City and Preston, but the Baggies instead suffered their fifth league defeat of the campaign as Sam Morsy netted a second-half winner for the Latics.

The result means West Brom are still sitting at the Championship summit given their previous strong form of late, but second-placed Leeds are now only one point behind the Baggies while third-placed Fulham have now six points adrift of Albion.

Speaking to the club website, Bilic has admitted that his side's performance was not good enough against the lowly Latics, while he thinks his side were missing the energy and determination to seize control of the clash against Paul Cook's side.

“We were flat and didn’t have that energy, spark or the determination to take control of the game,” Bilic said.

“We didn’t manage the ball well, we weren’t direct and failed to keep the ball. Yes they are a good team that is in form, but so are we.

“We tried from the bench to make changes but unfortunately it didn’t work out and we can’t say we were unlucky today, we were simply not good enough. 

The Croatian will now be looking for a response from his side when they face Newcastle in the FA Cup during the week, while they will then be aiming to return to winning ways in the league when they face Swansea at the Liberty Stadium next weekend.

Can you score maximum points in this West Brom quiz? Have a go now!

The Verdict

West Brom's defeat to the Latics came as an enormous surprise given the hosts recent back-to-back victories against promotion-chasing sides, but it must be said that Wigan deserved to claim the three points given their performance against the Baggies.

The most important thing for West Brom now is that they do not let this result have a serious impact on their promotion bid, and Bilic's priority must now be his side's clash against Swansea next weekend rather than the FA Cup tie during the week.

The Wigan defeat will become a distant memory if Albion can secure a return to winning ways against the Swans over the weekend, but another defeat could even see the Midlands outfit ousted by Leeds at the top of the Championship.