Telegraph:

Business as usual for Chelsea at Wigan
By Duncan White

Wigan (0) 0 Chelsea (2) 2

Chelsea find themselves increasingly alienated from the hype of the
Premier League's gravitational centre and on a weekend when Arsenal
and Manchester United were celebrating the resurrection of their
ascendancy in locked combat, Avram Grant's side were exiled to the
division's least glamorous outpost.

Yet while attention was focused on events at the Emirates Stadium,
Chelsea went about their ruthless business in Lancashire, dispatching
an inferior Wigan team without flinching, the game redundant as a
contest after early goals from an in-form Frank Lampard and full-back
Juliano Belletti. It was their seventh-straight win and took them
third, just three points behind the joint leaders.

"Our eyes are only on our own team," said Grant. "We have won again
and played well, especially in the first half. For us it is important
what we are doing, not what others are doing." That inward focus is
largely directed at controlling the garrulous Didier Drogba. Last
month he was quoted in a French magazine expressing a desire to quit
after Jose Mourinho left the club and yesterday details emerged of
further controversial comments from the Ivorian.

A DVD charting Drogba's career has been released in France, in which
he talks of his "disgust" on signing for Chelsea in 2004 and of how he
had hoped he would fail the medical to spare him the transfer. While
it transpires that these statements may be several years old, and that
his feelings were largely about the wrench of leaving Marseille, it
has further frustrated Grant, who naturally would prefer attention
directed on to the success he is coaxing out of this squad.

Squad is the right word: Grant is not quite Rafael Benitez in the
rotation stakes, but he is working a system that shuffles his
attacking players. In came Florent Malouda and Shaun Wright-Phillips
and out went Salomon Kalou and Joe Cole. The change reaped immediate
dividend. Wright-Phillips was outstanding, giving evidence that he has
not lost the form that has earned him a place in the England XI.
Further good news for Steve McClaren – who doubtless needs it – was
Wayne Bridge's first Premier League start since May. These changes
were far from disruptive and Chelsea were swiftly into their rhythm.

It took just 11 minutes for them to pry Wigan apart. Wright-Phillips,
who tortured Kevin Kilbane all afternoon, scooted past the Wigan
left-back on the inside, picking up Drogba's lay-off and curling a
pass across the penalty area and into the stride of Lampard. The
England midfielder made simple work of the finish.

advertisementSeven minutes later Chelsea doubled the lead and Wigan
were in danger of submitting completely, haunted by the six-goal
collapse of Manchester City the previous weekend. Wright-Phillips kept
what had looked a lost ball in play with an acrobatic back-heel midway
in his own half and Belletti collected. The Brazilian right-back
strode 50 yards into the Wigan half, skipped past Denny Landzaat and,
with the Wigan defence backing off, hit a forceful shot from 25 yards
that blurred past Chris Kirkland in the Wigan goal.

The second half was not the polarised affair of the first as Wigan
rallied admirably and began to compete. Marcus Bent was barged, albeit
fairly, by Ricardo Carvalho on the very edge of the box as he closed
on goal early in the half, while in the game's closing stages Antione
Sibierski, on as a substitute, brought out a decent save from Petr
Cech.

Still, this was Wigan's sixth straight defeat, casting them into the
relegation zone, and with trips to Tottenham and Arsenal to come this
month, the future does not hold much optimism. Wigan supporters will
have to cling to the hope that Emile Heskey, two weeks away from
fitness after breaking a metatarsal, rejuvenates a side on the slide.


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The Sunday Times
November 4, 2007

Chelsea crush sad Wigan
Wigan 0 Chelsea 2
Richard Rae at JJB stadium

While the scoreline might suggest something of the efficiency of the
Jose Mourinho era, this was a Chelsea performance very much in keeping
with the more open – and from a neutral point of view, unquestionably
more entertaining – style of football that Avram Grant is encouraging.
True, they didn't finish as well as they have in recent games, and
perhaps they were guilty of easing off towards the end of a game that
they controlled throughout, but with Shaun Wright-Phillips involved in
most of their best work, there was a bounce and flair about them which
has become pleasantly familiar in recent weeks.

To suggest there was an air of fatalism hanging over the ground before
kick-off does little justice to the almost funereal murmur in the
stadium concourses beforehand, other than that behind the away end, of
course. Wigan stayed up last season largely by dint of beating the
teams around them, for that they deserve full credit, but when your
record against the Big Four reads played 18, lost 18, their supporters
could hardly be blamed for turning up expecting the worst.

Wigan's recent performances against Chelsea, which included two
unfortunate defeats to last-minute goals, should have given them a
modicum of hope, which would have been born out by an opening 10
minutes in which they took the game to their opponents, and might have
had a reward when Juliano Belletti appeared to hold Marcus Bent as the
centre-forward moved into position to meet a cross. Referee Steve
Bennett waved away the penalty appeal.

A minute or so later, Chelsea went ahead with a goal of ominous
simplicity. It was made by Wright-Phillips, or, more precisely, by his
pace and acuity. Selected instead of Joe Cole on the right, the
England forward picked up the ball, saw Kevin Kilbane and Denny
Landzaat were going to sell themselves, slipped it between them, ran
on and hit a low, curling pass into the path of Frank Lampard, whom
Wigan had completely failed to pick up.

Running from deep isn't something Lampard does very often, after all.
He beat Chris Kirkland with ease for his seventh goal of the season,
and fourth in the Premier League.

The reaction of the Wigan players – you could almost see the belief
draining out of them – suggested that might already effectively be
game over; seven minutes later there was no doubt about it. Belletti,
in possession well inside his own half, side-footed a pass to
Wright-Phillips that Kilbane thought was going out only for
Wright-Phillips to acrobatically flick the ball back into the
full-back's path.

While the hapless Kilbane continued to appeal for a throw-in, Belletti
was allowed to run across halfway and on towards the Wigan penalty
area without challenge before, from around 22 yards, hitting a
right-foot shot that swerved beyond Kirkland as the goalkeeper dived
left.

If that was embarrassing for the home team, the remainder of the first
half was torturous. Such was their superiority, Chelsea looked capable
of scoring with every possession.

With Jon Obi Mikel breaking up Wigan's laboured attacks before they
troubled his back four, Michael Essien could indulge himself in a more
forward role, and Wigan obliged him with plenty of space in which to
play. Florent Malouda, Wright-Phillips (twice), Lampard and Didier
Drogba, who curled a free-kick inches wide with Kirkland a helpless
spectator, might all have increased Chelsea's lead before the whistle
brought relief.

Complacency seemed to be the only danger for Chelsea, the more so when
they began the second half by twice giving the ball away in dangerous
areas, Wayne Bridge and Mikel the culprits. Jason Koumas, anonymous
before the break, began to see more of the ball, and his pass for Bent
resulted in another penalty appeal, after he went down under Bridge's
challenge. Again Steve Bennett shook his head, providing the home
supporters with a convenient excuse.

Normal service was swiftly resumed, Wright-Phillips beating Kilbane
again on the right. Drogba headed the subsequent cross back across
goal but for once Lampard was not on hand to finish. Michael Brown,
who was at least putting himself about for Wigan, made space for a
shot that Alex blocked in front of Petr Cech, and Mr Bennett further
endeared himself to the locals by booking Bent for protesting against
yet another failed penalty appeal.

The more Wigan pressed, of course, the more room Chelsea had to play
on the break. Lampard's long pass gave Wright-Phillips yet another
chance to humiliate Kilbane, but he chose instead to wait, teasing the
full-back before chipping a sweet pass back to Lampard. For once, the
midfielder failed to connect cleanly enough, volleying the ball gently
into Kirkland's hands.

It was with about 20 minutes remaining that the feeling that Chelsea
had unconsciously taken their foot off the gas, holding something back
in anticipation of their Champions League match later this week, began
to grow. Or perhaps it was just that Wigan picked themselves up for a
final effort; either way, Grant responded by taking off Drogba and
Essien for Salomon Kalou and Steve Sidwell. Both had chances to make
it three before the end, but while the final pass continued to let
them down, there was never any questioning the inevitability of a the
seventh consecutive win in all competitions. Wigan, by contrast, have
now lost their past six in the league, and were half-heartedly booed
off the field.

Star man: Shaun Wright-Phillips (Chelsea)

Player ratings: Wigan: Kirkland 5, Melchiot 5, Granqvist 5, Bramble 5,
Kilbane 3, Valencia 4, Brown 6 (Skoko, 85min), Scharner 5, Landzaat 4
(Sibierski, 81min), Koumas 4, Bent 5

Chelsea: Cech 6, Belletti 7, Alex 7, Carvalho 7, Bridge 6, Mikel 7,
Essien 7 (Sidwell, 75min), Lampard 7, Wright-Phillips 8, Drogba 7
(Kalou, 74min), Malouda 7
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Belletti belittles defensive efforts of waning Wigan

Paul Wilson at the JJB Stadium
Sunday November 4, 2007

The Observer

No goal feast this time, but Chelsea will be well content with a
fourth successive win since the defeats to Aston Villa and Manchester
United that bookended the departure of Jose Mourinho. The Special One
himself could not have supervised a more convincing recovery.
With six defeats in a row, on the other hand, and just a single league
point collected since August, Wigan are looking anything but special.
They are a pale imitation of the spirited performers who surprised
even their own supporters two years ago, and though Emile Heskey and
Antoine Sibierski have still to return from injury it will be nothing
short of a miracle if goals from those two stave off relegation.

'Chelsea are back,' chorused the visiting supporters as Avram Grant's
side strolled to a two-goal lead inside 20 minutes. Chelsea have never
been away, but it must feel like it for their followers to be chirpy
about beating Wigan. Then again, despite the obvious gulf between the
sides here, Chelsea are unaccustomed to having everything their own
way in Wigan. The Latics still have not taken so much as a point from
any of the 'top four' sides in their three Premier League seasons,
though both Chelsea's wins here in previous seasons came courtesy of
stoppage-time winners, the first from Hernan Crespo and the second
from Arjen Robben. Wigan have usually managed to give Chelsea a game,
in other words, and the way they crumbled here did not offer much hope
for their survival chances or for Chris Hutchings's future as manager.
As a former Chelsea player, Hutchings must have been looking forward
to this fixture, even after watching the 6-0 demolition of Manchester
City last week. Yet his side failed to carry the attacking threat that
characterised Paul Jewell's teams, with Marcus Bent only a token
presence on his own up front and a five-man midfield easily bypassed
by Chelsea's more effective communications between two rows of three.

Bent did have a half-decent appeal for a penalty turned down early in
the game, but after that Wigan's erratic defending allowed Chelsea to
do all the attacking. Frank Lampard's opener after 11 minutes showed
that Didier Drogba's value to Chelsea is not limited to scoring goals.
The striker dropped deep to pick up the ball and brought the home
central defenders with him, immediately playing a short pass to Shaun
Wright-Phillips that Denny Landzaat and Kevin Kilbane failed to
anticipate, leaving the winger running into open space.
Wright-Phillips delivered a measured pass into the box that eluded the
Wigan backline's attempts to scurry back into position and fell
perfectly into Lampard's stride for the Chelsea captain to stroke a
shot past Chris Kirkland.

Wright-Phillips also played a valuable part in Chelsea's second,
keeping the ball in play when Kilbane thought it had crossed the
touchline and allowing Juliano Belletti to complete a one-two and go
on an improbable 70-yard scoring run. Regardless of whether the ball
had gone out, Wigan should have done something to prevent Belletti
collecting a return pass in his own half and carrying the ball all the
way to the edge of Kirkland's area. With Wigan obligingly retreating
until Belletti was in shooting range, he calmly beat Kirkland from 20
yards for his first Chelsea goal.

Wigan showed a bit more aggression at the start of the second half and
Alex did well to block a shot from Michael Brown, though when Ricardo
Carvalho made a mistake to present Bent with an opening, he wasted it
with a hasty cross. Brown, who had begun the game niggling Lampard so
blatantly that he was spoken to by the referee, switched his attention
to Drogba in the second half and provoked the striker sufficiently to
see him booked for angrily grabbing his shirt collar. Brown then
resumed his running dialogue with the referee and Lampard.

Wigan dropped into the bottom three, and clearly if they go down they
intend to go down irritating people. Dave Whelan has just indicated he
might be buying a few players in January. If Wigan carry on in this
sorry manner, he might be looking to sell a few as well. They are
carrying far too many passengers.

Sibierski came on for the last eight minutes and did well, heading one
chance over the bar and forcing a one-handed stop from Petr Cech.
Those two late efforts were the home side's only worthwhile chances
and by that stage Chelsea had already begun to think about Schalke and
Everton. With two away games at Spurs and Arsenal this month, it could
easily be December before Wigan pick up another point. 'We're not
looking at it like that,' Hutchings said. 'We'll be looking to pick up
points next week.'

Man of the match: Frank Lampard

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Mail:

Chelsea narrow the gap
Wigan 0 Chelsea 2


By DANIEL KING

Look out, look out, Chelsea are coming. There was no repeat of last
weekend's fireworks, but the Blues' touchpaper has been lit.

While the dust was still settling at the Emirates Stadium after the
dramatic end to the game of the day, Avram Grant's team narrowed the
gap on Arsenal and Manchester United to just three points without
breaking sweat.

Early goals from Frank Lampard and Juliano Belletti, the latter's
first for Chelsea, settled the match before it was a quarter of the
way through. The visitors proved that the addition of a licence to
thrill, as they had done in thrashing Manchester City 6-0 a week
earlier, had not come at the expense of their ability to kill a game.

A seventh consecutive win in all competitions for Grant has all but
banished talk of Jose Mourinho, and the Israeli's position looks
almost as secure as Chelsea insiders would have you believe. It is
United and Arsenal who should be looking over their shoulders, but
Grant is not a man to succumb to excitement.

The Chelsea manager said: "For us, it's important what we are doing,
not other teams. We won again and we played well, especially in the
first half.

"Last week we scored six, in midweek we scored four, but it will not
be like this every game.We scored,we won; for me it's OK."

Chelsea once asked Chris Hutchings to give up the day job, but
yesterday they moved him a step closer to the dole queue.The Wigan
manager was a bricklayer before joining Chelsea in 1980, and his
artisan team have lost six consecutive Premier League games since
Emile Heskey broke a metatarsal. They have not won since August 18.
With away games at Tottenham and Arsenal up next, it was a surprise to
find Hutchings in a more upbeat mood than Grant.

"The two early goals left us with a mountain to climb," said the Wigan
manager. "We regrouped in the second half. We took the game to them as
much as we could do, and I was pleased with the effort and commitment.

"We are taking positives from the second half, but we are not happy
with another defeat.We have to be positive and stick together as a
group. When we have everyone fit, we will be a lot stronger."

Chelsea had left it late, very late, to claim all three points at the
JJB Stadium in the two previous seasons, but wretched defending meant
this game was over inside 18 minutes.

More worryingly for Hutchings, both the early goals suggested his
players are so demoralised and worried about being the next one to
make a mistake that they are afraid to take responsibility and make
decisions.

Either Denny Landzaat or Kevin Kilbane could have cut out Didier
Drogba's 11th-minute lay-off, but each left it to the other, allowing
Shaun Wright-Phillips to dart between the two of them.The England
winger, making his first Premier League start under Grant, still had
plenty to do, but his cross-field ball behind the retreating Wigan
defence was so good that Lampard did not have to break stride before
side-footing it into the net.

The second goal was simply inexcusable, with Belletti allowed to run
50 yards from his own half without a challenge in sight until he let
fly a 25-yard shot which scorched past Wigan goalkeeper Chris
Kirkland.

"Boring, boring Chelsea," sang the jubilant away fans, but this was
not some new Avram Grant Total Football Machine (patent pending), just
a classic, Mourinhostyle Chelsea away performance.

Wigan, at least, started the second half better. In a 15-minute
period, Paul Scharner had a shot closed down,Marcus Bent felt hard
done by when Ricardo Carvalho muscled him off a Jason Koumas through
ball, and Alex did well to block Michael Brown's shot.

Then Andreas Granqvist tried to buy a penalty with theatrics which
appalled even Drogba, and a late header over the bar by substitute
Antoine Sibierski was as close as they got to a goal.

Chelsea barely threatened for the whole of the second half, safe in
the knowledge that two goals would be more than enough against
opponents who, for all their possession and effort, never looked like
scoring one. Job done, energy was saved for bigger battles,such as the
trip to Arsenal on December 16.

Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe may think the wages that loss-making
Chelsea pay to John Terry and others are obscene, but there is
something very attractive about the prospect of a threehorse race for
the title.

WIGAN (4-5-1): Kirkland; Melchiot, Granqvist, Bramble, Kilbane;
Valencia, Brown (Skoko 85min), Scharner, Landzaat (Sibierski 82),
Koumas; M Bent. Subs (not used): Pollitt, Boyce, Aghahowa. Booked:
Landzaat, Bramble.

CHELSEA (4-3-2-1): Cech; Belletti, Alex, Carvalho, Bridge; Essien
(Sidwell 76), Mikel, Lampard; Wright-Phillips, Malouda; Drogba (Kalou
75). Subs (not used): Cudicini, Ben Haim, Shevchenko. Booked: Drogba.

Referee: S Bennett (Kent).
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Indy:

Wigan Athletic 0 Chelsea 2: Lampard makes Chelsea cruise but clock
ticking for Hutchings
Resurgent midfielder scores again to leave Wigan languishing in drop zone

By Jon Culley at the JJB Stadium

After the swamping of Manchester City, the anticipated deluge of goals
against a much more vulnerable Lancashire opponent did not happen, nor
was their much in the way of champagne football from Avram Grant's new
adventurers. Yet Chelsea's seventh victory in a row in all
competitions was comfortable enough after a dreadful start by Wigan
handed them both the game's goals in the opening 18 minutes.

The win reduced the distance between Chelsea and the Premier League
leaders to three points courtesy of the draw at the Emirates Stadium,
a result in which Grant, in the time-honoured way of football, said he
had no interest. "What is important is what we do," he said.

To their credit, Wigan responded with character and fight, putting
Chelsea under some pressure, particularly in the second half and only
a very good, one-handed save by Petr Cech from a header by the
substitute Antoine Sibierski denied them the reward of a goal late on.

None the less, these are difficult days for Wigan's manager, Chris
Hutchings, whose team has slipped into the bottom three after losing
six matches off the reel. He will not thank anyone for pointing out,
after his 12th game in charge, that he had reached only that number
when he was dismissed as Bradford's manager in November 2000, nor that
his current chairman, Dave Whelan, who is holidaying in Barbados next
week, chose his Caribbean winter break as the moment to sack Bruce
Rioch as Wigan manager in 2001.

Whelan has never seemed inclined to act in haste but losing habits can
be difficult to shake off and Wigan's run of poor results has the
smell of a developing pattern, for all that Hutchings insists that all
will be well once his full squad is available. "I was pleased with the
commitment in the second half," he said. "But I don't want anyone to
be too happy about that because we need to win games. Giving away two
goals left us with a mountain to climb."

With Michael Brown preferred to Sibierski in the starting line-up as
Hutchings sought to match Chelsea's numbers in midfield, Wigan had
begun eagerly and were aggrieved not to have won a penalty inside
eight minutes when Juliano Belletti illegally prevented Marcus Bent
from trying to reach a cross. In defence, however, they began so
hesitantly in the face of an opponent they knew would have the
confidence to attack from the outset that they surrendered the game
effectively in the time it took Chelsea to go two goals up.

Shaun Wright-Phillips, making his first Premier League start for Grant
in a Chelsea line-up from which Joe Cole was absent, helped to inflict
the first wound by bursting between two defenders on the right flank
before looking up to find Frank Lampard bearing down on goal. Clearly
in the mood, Chelsea's stand-in captain was predictably first to his
team-mate's low cross to claim his fourth goal in two matches, having
score a hat-trick on Wednesday against Leicester City.

It was a moment of poor defending from Wigan but one that they soon
trumped when Belletti advanced from his own half entirely free of
impediment before deciding, as the home goal came into range, that he
might as well have a shot. Chris Kirkland was beaten all ends up from
25 yards.

Thereafter, Chelsea seemed to be doing just enough on this occasion,
rather than ruthlessly going for the jugular. "We scored six last
week, four in midweek – it can't happen every time," Grant said. But
his team were careless at times, John Obi Mikel and Wayne Bridge both
guilty of giving the ball away in dangerous positions.

The latest rumours of unrest surrounding Didier Drogba – reported to
have expressed his reluctance to join Chelsea in the first place on a
DVD released in France – encouraged the home crowd to bait the striker
at every opportunity, especially after he had run into the back of
Andreas Granqvist in his own penalty area only for the Wigan player to
be booked. Ironic cheers followed when Drogba was then carded himself
after an incident with Wigan's man of the match Brown, then boos when
he was taken off with 15 minutes left. As yet, Chelsea are making no
comment on the DVD.
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