Chelsea 1-0 Latics

Wigan Athletic travelled to Chelsea yesterday more in hope than expectation, but for a somewhat controversial goal they would have come away with a point.

On 67 minutes Chelsea had a corner, the ball was pumped into the middle, substitute Fernando Torres climbed all over Latics keeper Ali Al-Habsi, his arm across the Omani`s face impeding him in his attempts to grab the ball, Florent Malouda pounced to poke home the only goal of the game from 5 yards through a crowd of players.

A blatant foul on Al-Habsi but match referee Howard Webb didn`t see it that way and allowed the goal to stand

Chelsea had started the game brightly and Lampard could have scored within the first minute, he put his shot wide with a real lack of quality and composure in the final third that set the tone for both sides for the rest of the game.

Latics came into the game as the first half wore on and for periods completely dominated possession but just couldn`t find the killer pass or get their efforts on target to test Cech.

A couple of wayward James McCarthy efforts and some over hit corner though were all that the Latics had for their first half endeavours.

Chelsea came more into the ascendancy in the second half and Torres replaced Anelka on 59 minutes has Ancelotti searched for a way through for his side, Latics responded by taking off top scorer Hugo Rodallega and most creative player Charles N`Zogbia and replacing them with the industrious pair Franco Di Santo and Conor Sammon with Martinez looking to grab at least a point from the game.

Unfortunately within 6 minutes of the double substitution Chelsea scored the games only goal and then it was an uphill back to try and salvage something.

Victor Moses was thrown on for the final ten minutes but there was no way back for the Latics

Teams

Chelsea: Cech; Ferreira (Alex, 75), Ivanovic, Liuz, Cole; Ramires, Lampard, Mikel (Benayoun, 45), Malouda, Anelka (Torres, 59), Drogba

Subs: Turnbull, Essien, Zhirkov, Kalou

Latics: Al Habsi; Boyce, G. Caldwell, Alcaraz, Figueroa; Watson, Diame (Moses 81), McCarthy, N’Zogbia (Di Santo, 63), Cleverely, Rodallega (Sammon, 63)

Subs: Pollitt, Gohouri, Gomez, Stam