D

oes anyone remember the poorly documented story of the couple on honeymoon whose relationship ended in dramatic circumstances?

Celebrating their recent nuptials with a dream trip to a five-star resort in Hawaii, the bride was discovered in flagrante delicto with a room service waiter as the groom returned from a windsurfing trip. A '€œfull American breakfast'€ was relocated to all corners of the honeymoon suite, and it'€™s unlikely the member of the hotel'€™s staff will ever be able to perform with his acapella group again. All parties checked out shortly thereafter.

It was almost as spectacular an end to a honeymoon as Paolo Di Canio'€™s at Sunderland on Monday night.

Beaten 6-1 at the hands of fellow relegation battler Aston Villa, Di Canio'€™s dose of reality after the euphoria generated by back-to-back wins, was as alarming as a wake-up call is likely to get.

The seemingly boundless enthusiasm of Di Canio'€™s passion and commitment to the cause evaporated in a cloud of claret and blue, as Sunderland was slaughtered at Villa Park. It'€™s probably fortunate that Paolo'€™s hair is so sparse and cropped; otherwise he'€™d have pulled it all out by the time he sat down for his quadruple espresso on Tuesday morning.

The honeymoon is over, and the reality of the relationship he has entered into has become apparent. It also puts Sunderland right back into a relegation mix after looking well set to navigate away from it prior to Monday night.

Sunderland may still have done enough, but the game at home to Stoke City next Monday has just become that much tenser, while Wigan'€™s encounter with West Bromwich Albion on Saturday has become an archetypal '€œmust win'€ scenario.

At this stage of a Barclays Premier League season, everyone more or less expects Wigan Athletic to turn on the burners and pick up an unlikely set of results that preserves its Premier League status for another season.

The club was on its way to three points against Spurs last weekend before conceding a late equaliser, and there is an expanding lobby suggesting that it may just have left itself too much to do this time round.

End of season heroics have been Wigan'€™s trademark in recent seasons, but they have been dependent on other results going their way. Other teams have done it favours, and it has managed to claw itself out of trouble. That may not happen in this edition.

Everyone talks about '€œmomentum'€ being key at this stage of a campaign, and that is now with Villa, and against Wigan.

Fittingly perhaps, Reading and QPR played out an uninspired (and indeed uninspiring) 0-0 draw last weekend, condemning both sides to the second tier of English football next season, leaving only one club to join them.

With seven points separating the six clubs from Wigan in 18th up to Southampton in 13th, it'€™s going down to the wire, although with Wigan now five points from safety (with a game in hand), it must be favourite to go down '€” finally failing like an escapologist who attempts one death-defying routine too many.

Having spoken to Roberto Martinez last week, he remained upbeat and confident about his team'€™s chances of survival, and insisted that they will continue to play their own brand of football, whatever transpires.

While it'€™s honourable '€” commendable even '€” it may not amount to the pragmatism required, and while Wigan has a game in hand on all the teams above it, at this stage it'€™s more about points on the board, and Wigan doesn'€™t have enough of them.

Of their four remaining fixtures, Arsenal (away) looks the most problematic, while Swansea at home after West Brom at The Hawthorns this weekend both look winnable.

Unfortunately for Wigan though, potential and reality have all too often been strangers this season, and while certain fixtures may seem to have had three points written all over them, that has rarely been the case. If Wigan'€™s points total was commensurate with the quality of the club'€™s football (most of the time) the team would be competing for a place in Europe. But it isn'€™t, and they'€™re not.

Roberto Martinez'€™ men have four games left to save their Premiership lives, and prior to Monday night, it almost looked as though they would be in a straight scrap with Aston Villa. Six of the best though from Villa against Sunderland has changed the landscape somewhat, and Wigan will be hoping, nay praying, that come the last day of the season, it is still in with a shout of staying up.

As luck would have it, Wigan hosts Aston Villa on the 19th of May, the final round of fixtures in this Barclays Premier League season that could provide the ultimate, dramatic denouement.  

Catch more of Andrew Leci'€™s expert analysis and opinion of the English Premier League on FOX SPORTS.