Wigan 0 Chelsea 2: It's all too easy for Eden as Blues get off to flyer

Someone at Chelsea ought to have a word with Eden Hazard this week and tell him that life in English football won’t always be this easy.

Certainly not based on what their £32million summer signing achieved in less than seven minutes at the DW Stadium on Sunday.
After that, Wigan woke up and more than made a game of it. But if you give the champions of Europe a two-goal headstart there is usually only one outcome, and so it proved here.

Off to a flyer: Chelsea made a winning start to their season against Wigan at the DW Stadium

MATCH FACTS

Wigan: Al Habsi, Alcaraz, Caldwell, Ramis, Boyce, McCarthy, McArthur (Watson 80), Figueroa, Maloney (Gomez 49), Di Santo (Kone 67), Moses.
Subs not used: Pollitt, Jones, Crusat, Boselli.
Booked: Caldwell, McArthur
Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Luiz, Terry, Cole, Lampard, Mikel, Eden Hazard (Oscar 64), Mata (Meireles 82), Bertrand, Torres.
Subs not used: Turnbull, Essien, Ferreira, Sturridge, Cahill.
Goals: Ivanovic 2, Lampard 7 pen.
Booked: Luiz, Lampard.
Referee: Mike Jones (Cheshire)
Attendance: 19,738

Hazard set up Branislav Ivanovic for the first goal and won the penalty for Frank Lampard to claim the  second. As first impressions go, it was quite a way to make a Premier League debut.
Wigan’s response was to kick the Belgium star. Frequently. Hazard will not feel like he has had an easy ride when he gets up this morning and inspects the back of his legs.
It will be by no means the last time his opponents resort to such measures because Hazard is certainly a handful.
Playing alongside Juan Mata and tucked in behind Fernando Torres, his speed of movement and thought were simply too much for Wigan at times. He has that low centre of gravity and explosive burst of pace which has been the trademark of so many great players over the years.
At one point midway through the first half, Hazard pushed the ball past James McArthur on the touchline and was round him so quickly he was away before the youngster even had a chance to turn around.
He could have played the whole game but Roberto Di Matteo decided 64 minutes was enough and replaced him with another new signing, Oscar, the £25m Brazilian.
‘I brought in another guy who’s not bad himself,’ said the Chelsea boss afterwards.
However, sensing that Hazard was less than impressed to be leaving the stage, Di Matteo grabbed him as he left the pitch and had an encouraging word in his ear.

Bran the man: Ivanovic fires the Bluues in front in just the second minute

 

Hazard’s water bottle went flying on his way back to the bench but it was a rare moment of clumsiness on his part rather than an act of petulance.

While he could sit back and reflect on an impressive debut, it was at the expense of Wigan debutant Ivan Ramis. There was one minute and 40 seconds on the clock when Mata fed Lampard and he played the ball into Hazard inside the centre circle.
Ramis raced in to intercept, but Hazard turned him with ease and played a raking 40-yard pass that caught Maynor Figueroa out of position and left Ivanovic galloping free on goal.
The Chelsea defender, cleared to play following his red card in the Community Shield, almost stumbled but steadied himself before drilling the ball inside Ali Al-Habsi’s left post.
Ramis had been doubtful with a hamstring strain before the match and looked slightly off the pace again when Chelsea added a second shortly afterwards.

Down he goes: Hazard is upended in the box and Lampard converts the resulting penalty (below)

IN FOCUS, by Dominic King

Roberto Martinez: Courted by Liverpool and Aston Villa during the summer but made no reference to nearly leaving in his programme notes.

David Moyes: The Everton manager never wastes a chance to take in a game when his own side are not playing.

Roberto Di Matteo: Likely to be a high-pressure season for the Italian who showed little emotion after either of Chelsea’s goals.

Arouna Kone: The Ivorian with distinctive bleach blond hair was given a hero’s welcome as he made his Wigan debut as a substitute.

Hazard teased the Wigan defence on the edge of the box and, having resisted Figueroa’s attempts to muscle him off the ball, he was sent tumbling by a clumsy challenge from the big Spanish defender.
It was an easy decision for referee Mike Jones to give — ‘spot on’, according to Roberto Martinez — and Lampard made no mistake.
After waiting all summer for the big kick-off, Wigan were suddenly kicking off for the third time in seven minutes.
‘We were ruled by our hearts not our heads,’ said Martinez. ‘Sometimes you can get away with that and still have a big say in the game. Against a team like Chelsea they will punish you massively.’
The Wigan boss was proud of his players for not capitulating and they certainly did not lack fight. Gary Caldwell was the first name in the referee’s book for a brutal tackle on Hazard, and McCarthy could easily have followed when he hacked down Chelsea’s star man.

Mixed emotions: Torres endured a tough day while Hazard was the star of the show

What they need in the window...

Wigan: Conor Sammon’s imminent £1.2million move to Derby and the expected departure of Victor Moses mean Roberto Martinez is still in the market for a right-sided forward.
Chelsea: Even if Roberto Di Matteo signs Moses, he wants a right back (Marseille’s Cesar Azpilicueta), a striker (Bayer Leverkusen’s Andre Schurrle) and another creative midfielder.

But this one was following a familiar script. Chelsea have not been beaten on the opening day since 1998, while only once in their eight Premier League seasons have Wigan kicked off with a victory.
Wigan dominated for long periods without creating too many chances. Victor Moses fired in a fierce effort from a tight angle wide out on the right which brought a smart save from Petr Cech and a witty chant from the Chelsea fans who hope he will complete an £8.5m move to Stamford Bridge before the end of the transfer window. ‘Victor Moses, we’ll see you next week,’ they sang.
Cech had to be on his toes to keep out Franco Di Santo’s effort, although the Wigan striker will rue taking the ball wide after  Figueroa’s pass had been helped into his path by David Luiz’s attempted interception.

Title contenders: Chelsea have made a number of additions this summer to play alongside their established stars

Title contenders: Chelsea have made a number of additions this summer to play alongside their established stars

Substitutes Jordi Gomez and Arouna Kone went close with  spectacular efforts in the last 10 minutes but Chelsea could just as easily have increased their lead — not least when Torres raced clear and nudged the ball past Al-Habsi, only to see Ramis clear off the line.
It was the nearest Torres came to a goal as he began to emerge from Didier Drogba’s shadow with a low-key performance. He will certainly have to do better than this, but that’s for another day.
Chelsea — and Hazard — are up and running.