Chelsea 1 Wigan 0Sometimes Chelsea win well, at other times they just win. This narrow victory against Wigan belonged in the latter category but since the Premiership does not award extra points for artistic impression the effect was just the same. So far advanced are Jose Mourinho's team towards retaining their crown that a championship hat-trick, not just a second successive title, is already a strong likelihood.

David Lacey

at Stamford Bridge

Paul Jewell, the Wigan manager, summed up his team's conquerors well enough. "The great thing about Chelsea," he said, "is that they don't mind scrapping to get a boring 1-0 win. They'll take anything and that sets them apart from the rest. They can win games in different ways and I've got nothing but admiration for them."

Not that Wigan were any more prepared to stand back and admire Chelsea at Stamford Bridge than they had been at the JJB Stadium on the opening day of the season. But, whereas in August they had taken the play to the opposition and surprised Chelsea's defenders, on Saturday they concentrated on denying Mourinho's attack both space and time on the ball.

Wigan paid particular attention to Frank Lampard, stifling his movements and narrowing his passing options. Josip Skoko consistently tracked down Lampard through the middle and Leighton Baines resolutely barred his way on the right.

For Chelsea any reduction of Lampard's effectiveness is a bit like an interruption of communications from the mother ship. The satellites lose their way and it was no small triumph for Wigan when Mourinho felt compelled to withdraw his wing pair, Damien Duff and Arjen Robben.

Wigan, who lay second until recently, are approaching the end of a daunting run of fixtures against other leading sides. Before losing to Chelsea they had been beaten by Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool and on Wednesday they are away to Manchester United. Nevertheless Wigan will take encouragement from the way they kept their shape at Stamford Bridge while maintaining an attacking threat to the last.

Matches like this are apt to emphasise the awesome extent of Mourinho's options. Hernan Crespo, scorer of a superb late winner at Wigan, led the attack with bruised ribs while Didier Drogba rested his injured knee on the bench. Nevertheless, Drogba came on for the second half, followed on the hour by Eidur Gudjohnsen.

Not that this made much difference to the pattern of the game since Lampard retained only tenuous links with those up front. A quick, cleverly angled pass from Michael Essien did release Drogba soon after half-time only for Mike Pollitt to block his shot feet first. Earlier Pollitt's agility had kept out shots from Joe Cole and Lampard, the Wigan goalkeeper doing much to ease memories of his costly error at Liverpool a week earlier.

Chelsea's response to such frustrating situations is to seek solace in free-kicks, corners and John Terry. Midway through the first half a set piece found Terry hurling himself towards the ball in the Wigan goalmouth only to be hauled down by a challenge from Lee McCulloch which reflected the town's achievements in rugby league. But the referee saw nothing wrong.

A remarkable, twisting goalline clearance by Baines to deny Crespo a goal after Asier Del Horno's quickly taken free-kick had surprised the defence stiffened Wigan's resolve. Chelsea champed away until the 67th minute when Terry got in front of McCulloch to meet Lampard's corner with a forceful header which defeated Pollitt's attempt to deflect the ball wide.

There was little to say about an often uneventful match but Mourinho harped on about a minor incident in the second half when, with the game still goalless, McCulloch went down and Wigan put the ball out of play. But the referee did not stop the game and McCulloch, after limping about a bit, carried on.

In these circumstances Chelsea were surely not obliged to return the ball to their opponents. Jewell, however, thought they should have done so and declared that keeping the ball "showed just how much they must fear us". Presumably he was not being totally serious.

Yet Mourinho does seem to like seeking mountains behind molehills. He said he had told William Gallas not to give the ball back to Wigan because he felt McCulloch was feigning injury. This from a native of Portugal, the country which has perfected football's version of the dying swan. Maybe Mourinho's acquaintance with English idiom has yet to embrace the pot and the kettle.