FOOTBALL Live

Sunday August 24, 2008 Finished JJB Stadium

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Wigan Athletic

Chelsea

  • Deco 4’
  1. Chelsea hold off spirited Wigan

    Chelsea hold off spirited Wigan

    Chelsea beat Wigan 1-0 thanks to Deco's stunning early free-kick in the Premier League clash at their JJB Stadium. More

  • Live Commentary

    Time:90'
    • Wigan Athletic
    • Chelsea
    • - So, it's six points out of six for Chelsea, even though today's performance was not quite as impressive as last weekend's. Thanks for joining us, see you next time.
    • 90'+4 There goes the whistle! All over the JJB, and it's not to be for Wigan, who fall to their second defeat of the season!
    • 90'+1 Chance for Kapo to make a name for himself at the death from a free kick.... but the substitute hits it straight into the wall...
    • 89' Malouda on for Anelka as Scolari looks to seal all three points.
    • 88' Oooh! Kapo goes so close for Wigan! He fires a low drive goalwards, but Cech gets down well to paw the ball behind for a corner!
    • 85' Another Wigan change now... Henri Camara is thrown on to replace Mario Melchiot... all or nothing for the Latics now!
    • 84' Time is running out for Wigan to snatch a point... in all fairness, they've hardly threatened this half.
    • 83' Ashley Cole limps off the pitch, and he's replaced by Wayne Bridge... doesn't look too serious, mind.
    • 80' Here comes Kapo... and it's Palacios who makes way... the Honduran departs to a rousing reception...
    • 78' Kapo is getting ready to come on for Wigan, despite his pre-match illness...
    • 77' Cattermole plays a neat one-two with De Ridder on the edge of the box... he's got Valencia coming up on the outside, but he opts to go for goal! No dice this time though....
    • 74' Carvalho goes into the book for taking out Zaki...
    • 72' De Ridder hares off on a super run down the right hand side... but the Dutchman slips and the chance to get in a decent cross is lost.
    • 70' This second half is so far removed from the first... and the crowd are mirroring that - they've barely made a peep since the break.
    • 69' Chance for Chelsea now! The ball is played back into the box for the advancing Lampard! But that's a superb tackle from Cattermole to take the ball away from the Chelsea man!
    • 66' Essien fancies his chances from distance... it just opens up for him and he lets fly! Easy for Pollitt though.
    • 64' Cech deals with De Ridder's corner well though, claiming amid a crowd of players.
    • 63' But here's a chance for Wigan to threaten Cech's goal again as Bosingwa is forced tgo head behind for a corner.
    • 60' This one's not half as entertaining since the break... neither side has really found a rhythm...
    • 58' Joe Cole, who has been rather quiet today, is replaced by Kalou...
    • 56' But before he can come on, Chelsea have a corner to defend against. De Ridder's effort is poor though and it's headed clear at the near post.
    • 55' Salomon Kalou, fresh from Olympic duty, is getting ready to come on for Chelsea.
    • 53' Lampard takes it... it's an odd one, a looping chip out to Deco on the edge of the box... the Portuguese plays it back to his team-mate, but the flag's up and the chance is wasted.
    • 52' Lampard bursts forward now... to the byline... and he wins a corner!
    • 49' Oooh, late challenge from Cattermole on Essien and that should see him booked... Ballack's furious at that one!
    • 46' One change to tell you about after the half-time break... Daniel De Ridder has replaced Jason Koumas, who picked up a slight knock in the opening period.
    • 46' Back underway in Wigan!
    • 45'+2 There goes the whistle and Chelsea go in at the break one up, but Wigan are not finished by any stretch of the imagination.
    • 45' Here come Wigan with a final attack before the end of the opening period... the ball's with Figueroa on the left. But stupidly he acts on the crowd's pleas for him to 'shoooot' from 30 yards out... straight into the Chelsea defender!
    • 44' Two minutes of stoppage time to be played at the end of the first half.
    • 41' Huge penalty shout from Anelka! The Frenchman cuts inside his man and hits the deck! Referee Wiley waves play on! At a first glance that looked a clear cut spot kick, but replays show contact was minimal, if there was any at all. Good decision!
    • 39' Koumas delivers a looping cross into the Wigan box... Palacios shoves Cole in the back and Chelsea have a free kick.
    • 36' Oooh! Guess who? Anelka gets on the end of a Deco free kick, but he's falling back and his header goes over the bar!
    • 34' Anelka does something! He gets down to the byline before delivering a decent cross... Pollitt's there to deal with it though. In fairness to Anelka, he's playing up front all on his own and with Chelsea pegged back so much, he's not getting a sniff.
    • 32' Nicolas Anelka is still on the pitch, just in case you were wondering. He's just not really doing anything. At all.
    • 30' Palacios gets the crowd on their feet with a brilliant defensive tackle on Bosingwa! Superb tracking back from the Honduran!
    • 28' Lovely control on his chest by Heskey... really good target man play there, the kind Wayne Rooney is crying out for at international level... Fabio Capello's in the crowd today, although who exactly he's here to watch is unknown.
    • 26' Cech brought into action again by Zaki, whose snap shot after a neat back heel from Palacios is clawed away! Wigan edging closer to an equaliser!
    • 24' Ashley Cole lets fly with a speculative first time volley from the edge of the box! Ten out 10 for effort, but around three for execution... he drags it well wide and Pollitt isn't unduly troubled.
    • 22' A mix up between Carvalho and Essien sees Zaki pounce on the ball... but he's taken out by Bosingwa and that'll be a free kick to Wigan.
    • 21' It's not a bad delivery from Deco, towards the near post, but the Wigan defence deal with it admirably.
    • 20' Cole does well now for Chelsea... and the England man wins a corner, which Deco will take this time...
    • 19' Wigan fans are making themselves heard at the moment, despite a far from full stadium...
    • 17' Carvalho rises to meet the corner but heads over the bar! Chelsea may not be enjoying much possession at the moment but they have so much class going forward, they're always a danger.
    • 16' Chelsea break and win a corner at the other end... Lampard goes over to take it and is greeted by a chorus of boos... that's ridiculous. Why? Because of his England performance? Come on...
    • 15' Oooh! Palacios attempts a cross... it's overhit, but sails towards the Chelsea goal! Cech backtracks rapidly as the ball threatens to loop in over his head! But it flashes just wide of the post in the end! That could have been disastrous for the Blues!
    • 14' Terry is pulled up for a foul on Heskey... and he's given a yellow card for his trouble!
    • 13' Carvalho heads clear for Chelsea and the visitors can enjoy a brief respite from Wigan's attacks...
    • 12' Lovely wing play from Koumas here! He takes on Cole and wins a corner! Wigan are really fired up now!
    • 11' Wigan are all over Chelsea at the moment! And there's a cracking atmosphere in the ground... it's getting to the players too, as Ballack and Cattermole clash in the middle of the pitch. Both players earn a talking to from referee Wiley, but no action is taken.
    • 9' What a great start to the game! Breathless opening period of play at the JJB!
    • 8' Wigan are enjoying a bit of possession here... Zaki's put through now! Can he reach it! Yes... he fires goalwards with a first time shot, but Cech is equal to it and makes the save with his feet!
    • 6' Nothing comes from the corner, but that's the best way to respond to such a hammer blow.
    • 5' Brilliant response from Wigan, and more to the point, Wilson Palacios! He turns Bosingwa on the byline before testing Cech with a smart effort from a narrow angle! Corner to the hosts!
    • 4' GOAL! DECO PUTS CHELSEA INTO THE LEAD WITH A SUPER FREE KICK! Pollitt strains to get there, but the Portuguese's effort is so well placed into the top left hand corner that the stand-in keeper can't get there! 1-0 Chelsea!
    • 3' Free kick awarded to Chelsea now after Cattermole is penalised for handball 25 yards out.... Deco over it, this could be dangerous...
    • 3' Chelsea in their all black kit today... Wigan in their traditional blue and white.
    • 2' Deco plays a wayward pass, much to the delight of the home crowd... he's not supposed to do that.
    • 2' The news is just filtering through that Kirkland injured his back in warm-up... not the best of starts for Steve Bruce.
    • 1' Here we go! Underway in bright sunshine at the JJB!
    • - And today's referee is Alan Wiley (Staffordshire).
    • - Chelsea: Cech, Bosingwa, Carvalho, Terry, Ashley Cole, Ballack, Essien, Lampard, Deco, Anelka, Joe Cole - Subs: Hilario, Ivanovic, Malouda, Bridge, Kalou, Alex, Belletti
    • - Wigan: Pollitt, Melchiot, Boyce, Bramble, Figueroa, Valencia, Cattermole, Palacios, Koumas, Heskey, Zaki - Subs: Nash, Sibierski, Kilbane, Brown, De Ridder, Kapo, Camara
    • - For Wigan, Chris Kirkland has injured himself in the warm-up, meaning Mike Pollitt comes into the starting XI. Jason Koumas returns after scoring for Wales on international duty last week but other than that, it's pretty much as expected for Steve Bruce's side.
    • - The teams are in, and the big news is that Michael Ballack is fit for Chelsea. The German has shaken off a foot injury and lines up in a five-man midfield alongside Deco, Frank Lampard, the returning Michael Essien and Joe Cole.
    • - Chelsea looked supreme during their 4-0 demolition of Portsmouth last weekend while Wigan fell to defeat at West Ham. On paper, it looks like a Chelsea win, but at the JJB anything can happen!
    • - Hello and welcome to eurosport.yahoo.com's LIVE coverage of the big game at the JJB today!

  • Team Stats

    Wigan Athletic Stats Chelsea
    40% Possession 59%
    12 Shots 9
    5 Shots on target 2
    0 Saves 3
    7 Corners 7
    16 Fouls 13
    1 Offsides 6
    1 Yellow cards 2
    0 Red cards 0
    16 Tackles 22
    269 Accurate passes 428
    39 Bad passes 29

  • Player Stats

    G =
    Goals
    S =
    Shots
    SoT =
    Shot on Target
    F =
    Fouls
    FW =
    Fouls Won
    O =
    Offsides
    A =
    Assists
    AP =
    Accurate Passes
    BP =
    Bad Passes
    T =
    Tackles
    • Wigan Athletic
      G S SoT F FW O A AP BP T
      12 Michael Pollitt 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 13 1 0
      17 Emmerson Boyce 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 11 1 0
      31 Maynor Figueroa 0 1 0 0 7 0 0 25 5 5
      25 Mario Melchiot 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 37 0 1
      19 Titus Bramble 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 15 5 0
      4 Lee Cattermole 0 1 0 5 1 0 0 34 7 3
      10 Jason Koumas 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 12 3 0
      16 Luis Antonio Valencia 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 40 2 2
      5 Wilson Palacios 0 2 1 3 0 0 0 28 3 3
      13 Amr Zaki 0 3 2 1 2 0 0 19 5 1
      9 Emile Heskey 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 14 5 0
      24 Carlo Nash 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      11 Michael Brown 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      27 Henri Camara 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
      8 Kevin Kilbane 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      23 Olivier Kapo 0 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0
      6 Antoine Sibierski 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      18 Daniel De Ridder 0 2 1 1 0 0 0 20 1 1
    • Chelsea
      G S SoT F FW O A AP BP T
      1 Petr Cech 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 17 4 0
      6 Ricardo Carvalho 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 49 0 0
      3 Ashley Cole 0 1 0 1 2 0 0 30 5 3
      17 José Bosingwa 0 1 0 2 2 0 0 39 0 7
      26 John Terry 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 44 2 3
      20 Anderson Deco 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 55 3 3
      5 Michael Essien 0 1 1 0 3 0 0 55 2 2
      8 Frank Lampard 0 1 0 1 2 1 0 47 9 1
      13 Michael Ballack 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 52 1 1
      10 Joe Cole 0 1 0 2 1 1 0 15 0 0
      39 Nicolas Anelka 0 1 0 1 0 3 0 17 2 2
      18 Wayne Bridge 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0
      40 Henrique Hilário 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      15 Florent Malouda 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0
      35 Juliano Belletti 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      2 Branislav Ivanovic 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      33 Alex da Dias Costa 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      21 Salomon Kalou 0 1 0 3 1 1 0 5 0 0

  • Summary

    • - So, it's six points out of six for Chelsea, even though today's performance was not quite as impressive as last weekend's. Thanks for joining us, see you next time.
    • 88' Oooh! Kapo goes so close for Wigan! He fires a low drive goalwards, but Cech gets down well to paw the ball behind for a corner!
    • 69' Chance for Chelsea now! The ball is played back into the box for the advancing Lampard! But that's a superb tackle from Cattermole to take the ball away from the Chelsea man!
    • 66' Essien fancies his chances from distance... it just opens up for him and he lets fly! Easy for Pollitt though.
    • 41' Huge penalty shout from Anelka! The Frenchman cuts inside his man and hits the deck! Referee Wiley waves play on! At a first glance that looked a clear cut spot kick, but replays show contact was minimal, if there was any at all. Good decision!
    • 36' Oooh! Guess who? Anelka gets on the end of a Deco free kick, but he's falling back and his header goes over the bar!
    • 26' Cech brought into action again by Zaki, whose snap shot after a neat back heel from Palacios is clawed away! Wigan edging closer to an equaliser!
    • 15' Oooh! Palacios attempts a cross... it's overhit, but sails towards the Chelsea goal! Cech backtracks rapidly as the ball threatens to loop in over his head! But it flashes just wide of the post in the end! That could have been disastrous for the Blues!
    • 8' Wigan are enjoying a bit of possession here... Zaki's put through now! Can he reach it! Yes... he fires goalwards with a first time shot, but Cech is equal to it and makes the save with his feet!
    • 5' Brilliant response from Wigan, and more to the point, Wilson Palacios! He turns Bosingwa on the byline before testing Cech with a smart effort from a narrow angle! Corner to the hosts!
    • 4' GOAL! DECO PUTS CHELSEA INTO THE LEAD WITH A SUPER FREE KICK! Pollitt strains to get there, but the Portuguese's effort is so well placed into the top left hand corner that the stand-in keeper can't get there! 1-0 Chelsea!

Live Team Line-Up

  • Referee: Alan Wiley

  • Wigan Athletic

    Manager: Steve Bruce

    Captain: Mario Melchiot

    Starting line-up

    • M. Pollitt
    • M. Melchiot Substitution Out (85′)
    • T. Bramble
    • E. Boyce
    • M. Figueroa
    • A. Valencia
    • W. Palacios Substitution Out (80′)
    • L. Cattermole Yellow Card
    • J. Koumas Substitution Out (46′)
    • E. Heskey
    • A. Zaki

    Subs

    • A. Sibierski
    • O. Kapo Substitution In80′
    • K. Kilbane
    • M. Brown
    • C. Nash
    • H. Camara Substitution In85′
    • D. De Ridder Substitution In46′

    Injured

    • C. Kirkland
    • P. Scharner
    • E. Edman

    Suspended

    None

  • Chelsea

    Manager: Luiz Felipe Scolari

    Captain: John Terry

    Starting line-up

    • P. Cech
    • J. Bosingwa
    • R. Carvalho Yellow Card
    • J. Terry Yellow Card
    • A. Cole Substitution Out (83′)
    • M. Essien
    • F. Lampard
    • M. Ballack
    • .. Deco Goal
    • J. Cole Substitution Out (58′)
    • N. Anelka Substitution Out (89′)

    Subs

    • F. Malouda Substitution In89′
    • W. Bridge Substitution In83′
    • .. Alex
    • J. Belletti
    • S. Kalou Substitution In58′
    • B. Ivanovic
    • H. Hilario

    Injured

    • D. Drogba
    • J. Mikel

    Suspended

    None