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petr cech red carded

Chelsea were made to pay for an uncharacteristically dreadful performance at Wigan on Saturday, in which the London team were given a stark reminder that there is no room for complacency in the Premier League.

Despite a perfect start to the season with six out of six wins Chelsea not only lost the game to the better team on the day, but also saw Manchester United take the top spot in the league on goal difference.

Chelsea may well point to the sending off of Petr Cech as the turning point of the game, but it does not hide the fact that they were truly second best throughout the game.

Wigan led 1-0 at half time and as expected Chelsea started the second half with a better sense of purpose than they finished the first. A soft goal from Drogba equalled the score early on but Wigan responded immediately and when the menacing Hugo Rodallega broke into the Chelsea penalty area he was adjudged to have been brought down by the Chelsea keeper.

It was a harsh decision to show Cech the red card, replays suggest that there was barely a touch and defender Ashley Cole’s position behind Cech suggested that the keeper was certainly not the last man.

With Chelsea down to ten men and Hilario in goal for Cech, Wigan scored from the spot to once again take the lead. Things got worse for Chelsea when they went down to nine men as Ashley Cole went off injured and Wigan made it 3-1 in stoppage time.

Carlo Ancelotti admitted after the game that he had underestimated the strength of the Wigan side, not a great characteristic for a coach at his level. He did however have the grace to accept that Wigan were the better team and said;

“It was a bad display. I don’t know why we didn’t play well but these things can happen after many wins. Wigan played better than us. They were well organised and played well. This was the right result.”