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Martinez moving on from N'Zogbia Wigan manager Roberto Martinez refuses to dwell on the past and believes Charles N'Zogbia, on his first return to the DW Stadium with Aston Villa, has to do the same.

The French winger left the Latics in the summer having played a major part in keeping them in the Barclays Premier League.

His record for Wigan was far from spectacular, with 18 goals in 90 appearances, but many of his performances were vital in their continued survival in the top flight.

Since his #9.5million summer move he has found the net once in 23 games and his displays have been patchy.

Martinez had the option to follow N'Zogbia to Villa Park at the end of last season as a replacement for Gerard Houllier but remained loyal to Wigan chairman Dave Whelan, who has so much faith in the Spaniard.

"You go past that when you make a decision. The decision from a human point of view was the right one," Martinez told Press Association Sport.

"I will never look back to that - and there is too much at stake at the moment to think about individual issues: my decision, when we sold Charles N'Zogbia.

"There are clear links between the two clubs but at the moment the game is so important for us and all that counts is to get the points we need to achieve our aim of staying in the Premier League.

"All the individual issues should be in the background." Wigan are bottom of the table but only two points from safety and nine adrift of Saturday's visitors, who are 15th.

Striker Callum McManaman has recovered from a back problem while a number of players were able to overcome colds and viruses during the club's recent trip to Oman.

Influential midfielder Mohamed Diame may be set for his first appearance since returning from the African Nations Cup, having remained on the bench a fortnight ago for the vital win at Bolton.

Aston Villa boss Alex McLeish has challenged N'Zogbia to start producing the form he showed for Wigan on a consistent basis "I've been up there many times playing Wigan in the past with my team before and Charles was one of the differences," he said.

"At the end of last season for Wigan, I thought he was the guy that made the difference.

"If he can bring that form to us on a really consistent level, then Charles is going to make a name (for himself) at Aston Villa." McLeish added: "Charles has been slow to settle but you only have to look at other examples up and down the country.

"Why has Andy Carroll been slow to settle at Liverpool. Why has Stewart Downing been slow to settle there? You are talking about two great players.

"It is just one of the mysteries of football. You tend to think when you get an English player, or a player who has been playing in England, that they will hit the ground running.

"But sometimes they need time to settle in so I don't think it is unique to Charles.

"Charles has shown us some great moments and hopefully there will be a few more from now until the end of the season." McLeish is hoping striker Gabriel Agbonlahor will also make an impact on his return after missing the last three games with a hamstring injury.

He said: "We are no different to any other team in the country in that, if you are missing your top players, it can be a big miss.

"Gabby is one of the top players at this club and is feared throughout the Premier League.

Wigan vs Aston Villa

Last modified 17:42 25/02/12

Bent injury mars stalemate Darren Bent was stretchered off in agony as Premier League basement boys Wigan failed to capitalise on their dominance against Aston Villa at the DW Stadium in a stalemate.

Bent went down following a challenge by Antolin Alcaraz and it was immediately obvious he could not continue.

The injury will almost certainly rule him out of England's midweek friendly with Holland, and possibly a lot longer given the pain he was in.

It was an incident which overshadowed a curious game, which Wigan dominated but Villa had the best chances, Ali Al Habsi called upon three times to keep the hosts level.

Hugo Rodallega came closest for Wigan in a frantic finish.

It was not enough to give the Latics their second home win of the season though, or take them off the foot of the Premier League table.

However, it was the Villa fans who booed their team off at the end, their patience with Alex McLeish starting to wear very thin.

The first-half was a microcosm of Wigan's season in that despite enjoying long periods of possession, it was Aston Villa who carved out the better chances.

In his final game before returning to MLS, Robbie Keane tried his luck from 25 yards with a low daisy-cutter that looked harmless when it left his foot, but was actually destined for the bottom corner until Al Habsi pushed it away.

Shortly afterwards, Keane turned provider, lifting a deft pass beyond a static Wigan back four.

Bent had the pace to reach it. Unfortunately for the England man, he could not beat Al Habsi either as his shot cannoned away off his knee.

Stephen Warnock also flashed a shot wide in what was an brief period in the ascendancy for the injury-hit visitors, who had named Gabriel Agbonlahor as skipper for the first time.

In contrast, Wigan controlled proceedings as much as it was possible to do on a pudding of a pitch, causing difficulties for both defences.

The arrival of Jean Beausejour from Birmingham during the transfer window has provided the Latics with a welcome cutting edge It was the winger's deep cross in the early moments that Gary Caldwell lifted on to the roof of Shay Given's goal.

Carlos Cuellar did well to get a similar effort out of his six-yard box before Emmerson Boyce arrived to do some damage.

Had Wigan been caught napping right at the start of the second period, manager Roberto Martinez would not have been impressed.

Al Habsi was once again equal to the threat though after James Collins had turned the ball back into the Wigan box and, from Caldwell's flick, Cuellar thundered a header goalwards.

Quickly though, Wigan got themselves on top once more.

Beausejour was proving particularly difficult to pin down and on three occasions it was his crosses that brought peril for Villa, whose supporters were starting to get increasingly agitated at the lack of invention from their team.

Di Santo had a penalty appeal correctly waved away by referee Kevin Friend as his shot struck Collins and then Albrighton.

The introduction of Wigan old-boy Emile Heskey for Albrighton sent the anti-McLeish sentiment into overdrive.

Wigan appeared incapable of taking advantage though. Two corners were curled straight out of play before one of the culprits, Moses, sprinted clear down the right only to drill his cross beyond an empty six-yard box.

Bent's injury drew a temporary halt to proceedings.

Even though there was no booking for Antolin Alcaraz's foul on the England striker, it was immediately obvious he was in some distress and the sight of him being carried down the tunnel was not good.

When play eventually resumed, Rodallega turned on to a pass from fellow substitute Mohamed Diame and curled narrowly over, then Emmerson Boyce dashed back to clear just as Keane was about to pull the trigger.

Charles N'Zogbia might have caused a problem for his former club near the end, although Di Santo had the last chance, which was repelled by Given.