Wigan Athletic boss Steve Bruce is confident Emile Heskey will play out the season at the JJB.

"There's 17, 18 days to go," said Bruce on Sky Sports News. "I'm not going to count my chickens, but it looks that way (Heskey staying).

"I sincerely hope so, and we still haven't given up hope of keeping him here, so we'll see what develops."

Bruce, who expects to finalise a deal for Colombian striker Hugo Rodallega, also confirmed he has plans in place if any of his players leave the club in January, with Wilson Palacios tipped to join Spurs.

He added: "That's the hard thing about January, it's difficult for us, but we've got one or two irons in the fire.

"I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't make contingency plans, so we've got one or two things in the fire.

"There are 17, 18 days to go, we're halfway through it, and let's hope in 17, 18 days we've got what we've got and we'll get on with it."