Marmite Man Gomez strikes again: that's four in five now for the Spaniard

The Latics produced another late strike to rescue a deserved point against third-placed Chelsea. With but minutes remaining, Jordi Gomez was on hand to slot away Petr Cech’s fumble and cancel out Daniel Sturridge’s 59th minute sidefoot past Ali Al Habsi. In what was initially a turgid meeting, neither side really hit their straps but the second half was a much sprightlier affair which produced two goals and a modicum of excitement.

An unchanged Wigan were quicker out of the blocks, finding themselves with some possession in the first five minutes to settle their nerves. Chelsea countered with their own spell of dominance, but, like their hosts, could not muster any shots on target. Sturridge threatened, but saw two of his crosses headed away by Gary Caldwell in the space of a minute. Former Barca defensive midfielder Oriel Romeu forced Al Habsi into the only save of the first half, while Didier Drogba went closest for the Pensioners with a header just past the post on 38 minutes.

Wigan’s only shot in the first stanza came from Mo Diame, whose strike caught the wrong side of his boot and sliced wide of Cech’s left upright. Victor Moses was arguably closer to opening the scoring for the home side with what would have been the last kick of the half. David Jones flashed a decent ball across the face of goal and the Anglo-Nigerian was just inches from poking it into the net and sending his team into the break 1-0 to the good.

A relatively even first half –at least in terms of chances– made way for a similarly equal second stanza. Though Chelsea finished the game with marginally more possession (47%-53%), their inability to create the chances was reminiscent of Wigan just one month ago. Fortunes are beginning to change at the DW however, and one should write them off at one’s own peril.

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Ancelotti: Still in the race, just about

The Champions League. Often touted as ‘bigger than the World Cup‘, it’s a tournament in which every footballer this side of the Atlantic aspires to compete. But it don’t half clog up your fixture list, does it? One only has to ask Chelsea, fighting hard to stay in the title race –a losing battle of late– whilst simultaneously having to find resources to mount a serious European challenge.

The Blues face three games in eight days, today’s match sandwiched between two midweek Champions League  encounters with Man United. A tough ask for the best of teams, but Carlo Ancelotti has a star-studded squad at his disposal, affording him the luxury of being able to drop world beater Fernando Torres and still have the likes of Florent Malouda, Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba to fill the gap for this afternoon. Oh, and you can throw Yossi Benayoun into the mix as well. With no injury worries, fielding a more than competitive team was far from a problem for the Italian.

Latics couldn’t exactly match the Blues in terms of international stars (though the recent international week saw eleven players depart to represent their country), but a recent run of good form provided hope that their team would finally ‘click’ some two years into the reign of Messrs. Martinez and Jones. Things haven’t been too far off the mark in the last eight games, with only the inability to place the ball in the net hampering Wigan. The main problem facing Bobby’s men is that if things don’t fall into place within the next few games it’s back the Championship, if not the drawing board.

Their most immediate challenge, however, came today with a trip to London and a doubtless daunting day out at the Bridge. Minds were cast back to the same fixture almost precisely three years ago when Emile Heskey put a huge dent in Chelsea’s 2007-08 title challenge as the Pensioners failed to put away their chances, due in part to an on-song Chris Kirkland. Latics fans would be hoping for a repeat, hopefully better as they struggle against the drop.

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John Terry had a much easier time at the DW this year

And so it came to pass that the multi-millionaires walked all over the Premier League wannabes once again.

Some may argue the sheer weight of such a scoreline was somewhat unjustified considering Latics’ first half performance, and I would tend to agree with them, but then I am a Wigan supporter. As such, I have been subjected to torture much worse than this in the past twelve months to the extent I’ve become numb to it all.

On the positive side, for thirty minutes Latics actually competed and, were it not for a lack of creativity and cutting edge in the final third, could have emerged with at least a goal or two for their troubles.

It wouldn’t have been enough, though, because it seemed the Champions could walk all over Little Wigan any time they wanted. Had this Chelsea side hit their straps earlier in the piece, things can be much worse. I reckon we ought to be grateful for that, because we were ultimately up against a far better team that’s been moulded over the course of many years of careful planning and flamboyant investment.

The likes of Malouda, Anelka and Drogba –the latter of whom somehow managed not to get on the scoresheet– were a class apart, recovering from a slowish start (by their standards, anyway) to lay the smackdown on our sorry bee-hinds. Yossi Benayoun capped it all with a late finish to continue the ‘always scores against Wigan’ theme we’ve already got going on this campaign.

So we were out of our league yesterday, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we don’t deserve our place in the Premier League, no matter how many ‘pundits’ brand us a disgrace. Sure, it’s looking like another season of terrible batterings and one of the worst goal differences in the league. The simple fact of the matter is that a seventeenth place finish will keep Wigan in the Prem for another year, and that’s the way it’s been for as long as I can remember.

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Carlo Ancelotti: not exactly quaking in his boots

Take one team that’s struggling to find their feet after a demoralising defeat at the hands of a newly-promoted side (who many are tipping to finish rock bottom of the league, no less) and pit them against the champions on the crest of a wave following a six-goal tonking of West Brom.

You would think that’s a recipe for disaster, especially considering the supposed backroom problems simmering at the DW Stadium, and sure enough, everyone’s predicting an absolute hammering for poor old Roberto.

I would say, however, that it’s a bit too dangerous to make such predictions at this stage, no matter how nailed-on they may seem. Don’t get me wrong, I’m fully expecting an absolutely rotten afternoon, one of those one-sided encounters that sickens you to the pit of your stomach. But while there’s life, there’s always hope, and by golly that really does seem to be all we have to cling to at the moment.

It may seem the side we are set to field this evening is far worse than the guys that managed to pull one out of the bag in the corresponding fixture last season, and that’s most likely a justified assumption. We can, however, console ourselves in the fact that, after last week, it can only get better… can’t it?

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