Man of the match Sam Morsy. Photograph courtesy of Wigan Athletic.

Latics moved out of the bottom three after a dominating display against mid-table Brentford at the DW Stadium.

Man of the match Sam Morsy fired Latics ahead after 28 minutes and soon afterwards the Eqyptian international added a second when Harlee Dean diverted his cross shot into his own net.

Brentford managed a consolation goal with four minutes of normal time remaining when substitute Jota pounced after keeper Jakob Haugaard had spilled Philip Hoffman’s shot.

Latics secured a third straight win in a row and they now go into their FA Cup tie at Manchester United in buoyant mood.

Both teams were without key players, for Latics winger Yanic Wilschut and for the Bees prolific striker Scott Hogan who is attracting interest from West Ham, but it was one way traffic as the home team were in control from the kick off.

The return of David Perkins alongside Shaun MacDonald, Sam Morsy and Max Power made it a very combative Latics midfield and the Bees found it difficult to build any momentum.

Morsy has made a huge impact since his return from Barnsley and he burst through the Bees midfield on 27 minutes and struck a great shot which beat keeper Dan Bentley but came back off the post, just out of the reach of the advancing Will Grigg.

But a minute later Morsy produced an even better piece of skill to open the scoring for Latics. The midfielder once again broke through the Bees defence before hitting a superb curling shot from the edge of the box and past the despairing Bentley.

Latics continued to push forward and they were soon two up. Will Grigg’s shot from inside the box was pushed away by Bentley but the ball found Jacobs, who was able to feed Morsy, and his cross shot struck Dean and rolled into the Brentford net.

Grigg might have increased the lead three minutes later, but he couldn’t quite reach Warnock’s cross from the left and Jacobs had another shot saved by Bentley.

Brentford surprisingly offered little going forward but Latics had been excellent in the first half and they could easily have gone into the break more than two goals ahead.

The visitors improved at the beginning of the second half and Tom Field went close when he met Maxime Colin’s pull-back and John Egan fired wide from inside the box.

Latics always looked likely to add to their tally and Dan Burn headed over, Grigg just failed to reach another Warnock cross and Andreas Bjelland headed away Morsy’s dangerous cross.

The Bees best chance of the game came when Bjelland’s header was superbly tipped over the crossbar by Haugaard.

Jacobs should have made it three on 80 minutes when he cut in from the left curled his shot a foot wide of the far post.

Brentford did manage a consolation goal on 86 minutes when substitute Jota pounced on the ball after Haugaard spilled Philipp Hofmann’s shot, but it was too late for the away team and Latics ran out deserved winners.