Wigan 0-2 Chelsea
The European Champions got their Premier League campaign off in Sunday's early kick off as they traveled up north to face Roberto Martinez's Wigan side. Despite the fact Wigan had survived last season they were relatively lucky and only missed the drop by 7 points whilst having one of the worst defensive records in the Premier League. Whilst Chelsea had "only" managed 64 goals last season it was expected they'd get off to a flying start with Fernando Torres looking to have regained his form with an excellent Euro 2012 (where he won the Golden Boot).
Things got off to a perfect start for Chelsea who need less than 2 minutes to open their scoring for the season as Eden Hazard and Branislav Ivanovic linked together to break the dead lock with Ivanovic finishing the move. Just minutes later Chelsea doubled their lead through a Frank Lampard penalty and it appeared as if Chelsea were going to really tear Wigan a new one whilst filling their boots, in fact it appeared as if Robert Di Matteo's men could even claim top spot above Fulham and Swansea. Sadly for Chelsea, and football fans, the second goal effectively killed the game and Chelsea choose to just hold on to their lead rather than give Wigan the hammering that they appeared to be there for.
Whilst new signing Eden Hazard was the star man for Chelsea, setting up Ivanovic's goal and being fouled for the penalty he seems like the sort of player who, despite being talented won't like the physical part of the English game. The number of times he went down was alarming and whilst some were dives he was also given a hard time. I imagine defenders will be viewing him as a serious target on this showing. Hazard went off with around 30 minutes remaining and was replaced by fellow new boy Oscar who was close to adding a third for the Blues.
Wigan fans should be worried, they have struggled in recent seasons and the way they started this game they will be struggling again. They should however feel very fortunate that Chelsea didn't seem to want to add to their early goals or this could have ended up like a cricket score. Despite losing Wigan did fight back well and actually had more shots and more corners than the visitors with Victor Moses looking very threatening despite some awful service. Wigan fans should be worried, though their team does have some promise as long as Martinez can get them working well as as a team from the opening whistle to the final whistle.
Despite winning 2-0 Chelsea fans should be feeling very annoyed at their team in all honesty. Wigan were really there for the taking and should have been beaten out of sight, though Chelsea's change from offensive minded team in the first 10 minutes to a counter attacking team afterwards really was frustrating. The fans however have to be pleased by the fact Hazard was such a key player and appears to be the sort of player who will have a hand in everything going forward, be it scoring or providing, he did however look a bit lightweight and went down far too easily. The 3 points were the key and they managed to bag them, but they weren't hugely impressive aside from the opening 10 minutes.
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