Chelsea have got their new Premier League season off to a winning start with a 2-0 victory over Wigan Athletic this afternoon.
The visitors made a perfect start to the match when Branislav Ivanovic drilled his effort past Ali Al Habsi at the near post after good work by Eden Hazard with just two minutes on the clock.
This lead was doubled just five minutes later when Hazard again caused trouble before being felled in the penalty area. Frank Lampard stepped up to take the spot kick and fired it under Al Habsi to make it 2-0 with less than 10 minutes gone.
Wigan's first chance came on 20 minutes as former Chelsea man Franco Di Santo rose highest in the box, only to guide his header over. Di Santo had another chance to pull one back on the stroke of half time, but was denied by Petr Cech when he should have done better.
Chelsea came within inches of adding a third just after the hour mark when Fernando Torres managed to keep his balance and stab the ball past Al Habsi, but his shot didn't have enough on it and was cleared off the line by Ivan Ramis.
The Latics fought until the end, and were almost rewarded five minutes from time as Victor Moses set up Kone, but the substitute's strike was saved and Gomez fired the rebound well over the bar.
Chelsea's next match comes against Reading at Stamford Bridge, while Wigan travel to Southampton.
Barney Corkhill
