Stoke City 0-1 Wigan Athletic: Will Keane goal earns away win for Latics
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Will Keane's goal was his 47th in league matches since joining Wigan in 2020
Wigan staved off the possibility of midweek relegation as Will Keane's second-half strike gave them victory at Stoke.
Defeat for the Championship's bottom club could have led to them going down if other results went against them in Wednesday's games.
But Keane scored with a shot on the turn from Max Power's ball into the box - his 11th goal of the season and first since mid-January - and Tendayi Darikwa should have added a second but just missed the target from Josh Magennis' cross.
Sub Ki-Jana Hoever forced a save from Jamie Jones as Stoke pressed in vain for an equaliser and they suffered their third loss in four winless games since a five-match unbeaten run.
They drop a place to 17th, but 10 points clear of the relegation places, with Wigan still at the foot of the table and five points from safety with just three games left to play.
With Ben Wilmot ruled out after suffering a fracture in his back and Ben Pearson suspended following his red card against West Brom, Stoke boss Alex Neil opted for six changes in total, while Wigan counterpart Shaun Maloney made four, including giving keeper Jones his first game since 2 January because Ben Amos has a rib injury.
Bersant Celina headed over from Jacob Brown's cross as Stoke had the better of the early exchanges, but they were forced into a reshuffle just after the half hour when Brown picked up an injury and was replaced by Tyrese Campbell.
A Power free-kick which flew wide of the target was Wigan's best effort up to that point, but they carried more of a threat as the half wore on, with Jack Bonham having to go down smartly to smother James McClean's dangerous ball into the box, with Magennis poised to capitalise.
Jones made his first save of the game shortly before the interval when he foiled Celina's low curling effort and Magennis was unable to prod the ball home after McClean caused further consternation for the home defence at the other end.
There were few alarms in the early stages of the second half but Keane's goal lifted the visitors, who held out with some comfort after Campbell was just wide with a shot just moments later, and Ashley Fletcher had a shot blocked on the Stoke line by Morgan Fox in the final minute.
Wigan's win was their first on the road since a run of three in successive games at Luton, Huddersfield and Rotherham back in September and October and they are next in action at home to play-off hopefuls Millwall on Saturday, with Stoke in south Wales to take on struggling Cardiff City.
Stoke manager Alex Neil told BBC Radio Stoke:
"I thought it was [a] flat [performance]. In the first 10 minutes, we had two or three decent opportunities to score and if we do score, the dynamic of the game probably changes.
"After that, we moved the ball a lot without really damaging them. We changed the shape, went a bit more direct, but didn't really get any joy out of that either.
"We are so polarised at the moment - some of the performances we've put in have been really good, and there are other ones that are really disappointing."
Wigan boss Shaun Maloney:
"I couldn't have asked any more from the players, it was a great performance.
"Even at 1-0 up I like that we were aggressive and still creating chances. I hope people notice our defensive record has been so good since I arrived and that starts from the forward players.
"If we perform like we did tonight, anything is possible. While it's mathematically still on, you never know, you really don't. We've just got to keep winning and see what happens."