Chelsea Reaction Matchday # 1 - Walk in the park

The European Champions were in fine form as they eased past a resilient Wigan team to grab 3 points and a clean sheet on the opening day of the season. Two goals in the first 6 minutes, made the Wigan fans remember the 8-0 destruction they underwent at the hands of Chelsea on the last day of the season. But Roberto Martinez was having none of that as Wigan battled till the end of 90 minutes, but failed to find the back of the net.

Wigan Athletic (3-4-3): Al Habsi; Ramis, Alcaraz, Caldwell (c); Boyce, McCarthy, McArthur (Watson 79), Figueroa; Moses, Di Santo (Kone 66), Maloney (Gomez 48).

Booked Caldwell 10, McArthur 56

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Cech; Ivanovic, David Luiz, Terry (c), Cole; Mikel, Lampard; Hazard (Oscar 63), Mata (Meireles 82), Bertrand; Torres.

Booked David Luiz 34, Lampard 79

Referee Mike Jones

First Half

It was a dream start for Chelsea as new signing, Eden Hazard opened the floodgates for Branislav Ivanovic with the Serbian comfortably putting the ball past Al Habsi. The Blues found themselves in paradise as Wigan conceded a penalty after Wigan new boy Ivan Ramis tackled Hazard poorly. Frank Lampard as always stepped up and another goal was assured as the ball zipped past the Wigan goalkeeper.

Gary Caldwell entered the book after a harsh and strong tackle on Eden Hazard, which the commentators believed to be a welcome present to the English Premier League . Petr Cech was lucky not to be spotted handling the ball outside the penalty area as the crowd forced the referee to rethink his decision of not punishing him. Chelsea were now comfortable and somewhat dictating the game. Eden Hazard performed a slick backheel to find Mata to ensure that critics and pundits left him alone.

In stoppage time, Wigan had the best chance of the game with Di Santo finding himself clear but took an extra hefty touch which allowed Cech to get a hand and David Luiz to clear some way of the line.

Lampard scoring a penalty and making it look easy

Fan Reaction: Man, that was some start! Looking forward to the next half and our Belgian debutante, Eden Hazard has completely lived up to his expectations with two assists. Our crossing looks a bit weak and Ryan Bertrand looks good enough to fit in the wing. Victor Moses is struggling a bit to impress his bidders even though he contributed to a few good moments here and there.

Second Half

Fernando Torres was unlucky to not find himself in the score sheet after Ivan Ramis made up for his previous mistake with a goal line clearance

Wigan were on the front foot since the beginning of the second half. The best chance went to Fernando Torres who found himself clear on goal with two defenders hot on his tails. The Spaniard managed to poke the ball goal wards but Ramis cleared the ball just in time. Torres was plain unlucky as it was a good and honest play from him as he did not go down even when the defenders pressured him.

With 27 minutes left on the clock, Roberto Di Matteo introduced Oscar to replace Eden Hazard who had a debut to remember. Kone made his debut for Wigan as well and replaced ex-Chelsea player Franco Di Santo. Oscar then latched onto a Fernando Torres flick and was speeding away with many comparing the run to Jordi Alba’s sprint across the field against Italy in the Euro 2012 finals. Oscar also attempted a backheel successfully and had a very smooth passing combination with Juan Mata. It was all Wigan then with Chelsea pulling on the brakes but the Blues were strong at the back and it will be a happy trip back to London for the Pensioners with an assured three points.

Verdict: Shaky second half to be honest. Chelsea were relaxed and lazy as they passed the ball around. Oscar looks brilliant and had an impressive debut. It was sad to see Torres not score but the Spaniard has many more games to come and should switch his focus to that. Roberto Di Matteo would have probably told the boys to attack in the first half and defend in the second to assess his squad.

Di Matteo spoke to chelseafc.com about the players sitting back after scoring twice in 6 minutes.

“I give a lot of credit to Wigan. They never gave up and still tried to go forward. We nearly scored a third which would have killed the game completely but we were quite comfortable. They didn’t create many clear cut chances, a couple of half chances but credit to Wigan. I like Roberto Martinez’s teams and what he tries to do.’”

Man of the match

EDEN HAZARD

Eden Hazard impressed many with his terrific performance in the opening day of the season. The fans were eager too see him in action after the game against City at Villa Park and will be definitely looking forward too seeing more of the same. Two assists on debut is no mean feat and it looks like Eden will live up to his price tag. Speaking after the game, Eden was happy with his performance and looking forward to contribute more for Chelsea as he received his customary bottle of champagne from Frank Lampard after being named the Barclays Man of the Match.

Frank Lampard had more to say about his new team mate:

“He was brilliant. It’s not easy at a young age to come into the Premier League no matter how good a player you are,” he told Sky Sports.

“You saw the quality he brought there with the little spin and putting Ivanovic through and then the speed to get away from his man for the penalty. That’s something that I know Chelsea fans are crying out to see and it’s great to play with him.

“You always want to get a win on the opening day and I think coming here, the way they finished the season last year it was a very tough game and we started very well, through this man [Hazard] mainly and it was great football.

“After that it was a pretty even game, it was tough but we always had that lead.”

Hazard, on the other hand, couldn’t say much as he was still trying to grasp the language.

He said: “Yes I’m very happy. My first game, a win, it’s okay.”

Roberto Di Matteo was full of praise for the Belgian and happy that the Chelsea won in their first outing with him as a manager.

“He showed all his quality today. He was outstanding and combined well with his team-mates. He was a threat and exactly what we were looking for. He has great technical ability, a turn of pace. He can play with his back to goal and has a lot of characteristics he can bring to our team.

‘With this kind of player, they are difficult to mark because of the movement, they are good on the ball, so I don’t think teams will try to kick him, it will just be a matter of the game.

‘I brought in another guy that is not bad himself, so I wanted to freshen it up a bit and give a debut to Oscar as well.”