Wigan Athletic v Chelsea: Live

21 August 2010 17:12
COMMENTARYKEY MOMENTSLIVE COMMENTINGEmail mike.norrish@telegraph.co.uk with your thoughts ... [LNB]WRAP: No one watching this game would be remotely surprised if these two teams finish the season in those positions they now occupy. It was exhibition stuff in the second half, and Roberto Martinez, on the evidence of the last two weeks, is well worth a fiver of anyone's money in the sack race. [LNB] Related ArticlesPremier League actionArsenal 6 Blackpool 0Birmingham 2 Blackburn 1Everton 1 Wolves 1Stoke City 1 Tottenham 2West Brom 1 Sunderland 0FULL TIME: Wigan 0-6 Chelsea. [LNB]90 + 2 min GOAL! Wigan 0-6 Chelsea. Help yourself. Yossi Benayoun scores his first Chelsea goal from a sweeping move. Drogba, again, the instigator with a superb switch. From there, it was very simple. Kalou, Anelka, and Benayoun with a right-foot angled finish. [LNB]90 min: GOAL! Wigan 0-5 Chelsea. Beauty! Kalou's second is set up by Drogba again. Boring, boring Chelsea, eh? That's 28 goals in their last five game Premier League games. Drogba let Cole's short pass run through his legs which gave him a yard of space to tease in gem of a cross from the left flank. Kalou, eight yards out, just glanced it in. Gave it the eyebrows, as they say. [LNB]88 min: N'Zogbia catches Cole late and high. No card though. Clearly, it's carte blanche where Cole and Terry are concerned. [LNB]85 min: Figueroa is being carried off strapped into a stretcher with what looks like it might be a nasty knee injury. It never rains. Emerson Boyce replaces him. [LNB]82 min: Three subs: Ben Watson on for James McCarthy and James McArthur replaces Mohamed Diamé. Yossi Benayoun's also on for Essien. [LNB]81 min: Impressively ruthless in front of goal today, Chelsea. Like last week, they haven't been amazing, nor have they needed to be. But they have been decisive and assured when the chances have arrived. [LNB]76 min: GOAL! Wigan 0-4 Chelsea. It's four. Again. They really are missing Titus. Kalou taps in after a wonderful break from Drogba, who showed superb pace and strength to sprint clear of Gohouri. With Kirkland well off his line, Drogba chose to play in Kalou with a beautifully weighted lay-off which his countryman stroked home. [LNB]70 min: Chelsea change. Malouda off, Kalou on. [LNB]69 min: Drogba largely anonymous, by his standards, today lines up a free-kick from the left side of the area, 30 yards out. Poor effort though, straight at the wall. [LNB]65 min: Terry's ticking. Already booked, remember, he has two stabs at N'Zogbia. That's afters from a challenge in the first half where the Wigan midfielder got the better of a 50-50 between the pair of them. Daft from Terry, and on another day that could have been offski. [LNB]62 min: Disallowed! Cech is beaten by Boselli but the offside flag preserves the clean sheet. Nice through ball from McCarthy but again, a tight decision is correctly called. [LNB]60 min: Huge cheers as Terry goes in the book for a foul on Diame. Terry had broken from defence into the Wigan half, and that's a fair call for a pretty cynical tackle. [LNB]58 min: Two good blocks from Chelsea Cole to stop Rodellega; Alex on N'Zogbia, and Chelsea's clean sheet remains intact. Gonna be a long season, you feel, for Wigan. [LNB]55 min: Job done then. Six points and +9 goal difference already. Chelsea were gifted the easiest of starts by the fixtures computer and they're sure as hell taking advantage. No signs of changes yet for Martinez. [LNB]51 min: GOAL! Wigan 0-3 Chelsea. Anelka again, from a yard out this time. Wigan carved open down the left as Malouda exploits the space behind Stam, who's had an ordinary debut. Malouda's cross loops to the back post where Drogba, instead of heading for goal, leaps high and flicks the ball back across the six-yard box with the outside of his boot. Anelka, lurking, does the rest. [LNB]47 min: GOAL! Wigan 0-2 Chelsea. What a wonderful team-talk that was from Martinez. Nicolas Anelka doubles the lead and kills the game, and it's a cracker. Essien's sweeping cross field ball puts Anelka into space down the right channel and his first-time angled strike fizzes past Kirkland into the bottom corner. Wonderful hit power, accuracy and also great confidence to hit the ball on the run. Class act. [LNB]HALF-TIME: Wigan 0-1 Chelsea[LNB]45 min: Boselli beats the offside trap but a decent tackle from Terry floors him. Three minutes of injury time. [LNB]41 min: Chelsea have clicked into gear since the goal, and Malouda and Lampard are now finding more dangerous positions in front of the Wigan defence. But in short, they are winning at half pace in a game which feels a little like a pre-season tune-up. [LNB]38 min: Malouda looking at the replay begun the move which led to his third goal of the season, feeding Drogba, who then linked up so well with Cole. Malouda then broke late to get into the box to pick up the loose ball after Kirkland had parried Lampard's shot. [LNB]36 min: First card for Ivanovic, for the most blatant of blocks on Rodellega. Depressing setback for Wigan that after such an encouraging start, but if you don't score when on top, you will invariably lose to Chelsea. [LNB]33 min: GOAL! Wigan 0-1 Chelsea. Florent Malouda gives Chelsea the lead from their first decent move. "That's why we're champions" sing the Chelsea fans, who are, of course, completely right. Incisive move from Chelsea. Drogba fed Cole down the left edge of the penalty area, and once he was in behind Stam Wigan were hopelessly exposed. Cole fed Lampard, whose right-foot toe poke was saved by Kirkland, but Malouda was quickly onto the loose ball to steer in the opener. [LNB]29 min: Nice stuff from Wigan down the right flank. Give and go between Stam and N'Zogbia, and Cole despite sliding in to clear the danger looks a little outnumbered on that flank. [LNB]25 min: Lampard's back in defence to help out, and he wins the free-kick after he's fouled by Thomas. Chelsea are under more pressure when Rodellega skips inside and tests Cech again from range. Chelsea look a little like a team who are waiting for something to happen, at the moment and Wigan have certainly been the better side so far. [LNB]21 min: Anelka's flagged for offside after taking Essien's ball into his stride. The tartan grass helps confirm that Anelka was, indeed, off. He then trips Diame, and is penalised. Not the only penalty he's had this week, of course, and there's no further punishment when Rodellega's free-kick is saved easily by Cech. [LNB]17 min: I'm not big on Ronnie Stam's alice band. His hair's too short to need one, and I think that's why it looks so weird. Ronnie, in case you missed it, joined the Latics from FC Twente in the summer. Good player, apparently. Steady start for him thus far with Chelsea looking strangely flat. [LNB]15 min: Wooooooof! Michael Essien lines up a piledriver after the ball breaks to him 30 yards from goal, but it's way too high to trouble Kirkland. [LNB]14 min: Well, if they are going to win 16-0 they're gonna need a big second half. Roy Hodgson looks like he's struggling to keep his eyelids propped open in the posh seats. OK, posh-er seats. [LNB]12 min: Good interception from Terry sets Chelsea going forward but the move breaks down when Anelka's touch deserts him. Too many passes not finding their mark for the champions. [LNB]9 min: Wigan look a little more solid than last week with extra bodies in midfield, and Figueroa, with a decent left-foot hit, forces Cech to dive to his right to clear. Wigan have had 65 per cent of the possession so far, don't you know ... [LNB]6 min: Rodellega is sticking to the left flank, and Boselli, playing alone in attack, is a little isolated against Terry and Alex. [LNB]2 min: Slippery surface, and one of the more intricately mowed pitches you'll see this year. Full marks. Decent start from Wigan with Cech punching Rodellega's flat cross away under pressure. [LNB]17.08: No major surgery needed for Chelsea, with Ivanovic for Ferreira their only change. [LNB]17.05: Three changes for Wigan. Hendry Thomas comes into the midfield, Charles N'Zogbia (not on strike) starts and Ronnie Stam gets a debut at right back. First team ever to miss Titus Bramble? [LNB]17.00: So looking good for Wigan, then. Blackpool beat Wigan 4-0, then lost 6-0 to Arsenal. West Brom, who are better than Blackpool, lost 6-0 to Chelsea. So by my reckoning, that means Wigan will lose 16-0 today. Almost definitely. [LNB]

Source: Telegraph