Wigan 3 Chelsea 1: Carlo Ancelotti Tastes First Loss as Blues Manager

Carlo Ancelotti tasted defeat for the first time in English football as Wigan picked up a shock victory at the DW Stadium.

Titus Bramble gave the Latics an early lead but normal service looked set to be restorred when Didier Drogba levelled just after the restart.

Then Petr Cech was sent off for tripping Hugo Rodallega and the Colombian fired home the penalty before Paul Scharner came up with a late third.

REACTION:
Ancelotti accepted that his team were second best at the DW Stadium and refused to offer excuses for his team's first defeat since March.

The Italian admitted that he was taken by surprise by the quality shown by the Latics but promised Blues fans they will see a response when they travel to Apoel Nicosia on Champions League duty this week.

But he is likely to be without Ashley Cole, who was carried off with a knee problem, while John Obi Mikel also suffered an ankle injury.

Ancelotti said: "We didn't play a good game, very bad, and Wigan played better than us and it was the right result.

"We are disappointed for this because I didn't want this performance but this is football and we have to look forward to the next game.

"We started well and the first 10 minutes we did very well and then we slept for the first Wigan goal and our match was more complicated.

"We started the second half better, drew level and after a few minutes there was a penalty and at the end of the match it was impossible because we lost Ashley Cole and nine against 11 it was impossible to play.

"I think that Wigan played very well, they showed a very good organisation, very good play and I was surprised for this.

"We prepared very well for the match and we knew what was important.

"This can happen after a lot of victories and we have to accept this loss and fix it in the next match in the Champions League."

It was the first time in 35 attempts that Wigan had managed a win over a big four team.

Since taking over in the summer, Roberto Martinez had overseen heavy defeats - 5-0 and 4-0 - to Manchester United and Arsenal, respectively.

But he felt his side got their reward for a bullish approach.

He said: "When you are a team like Wigan and you've got Chelsea at home, you've got two options. You can be brave and beat them or you can get hammered. In the the last two games we lost 4-0 and 5-0 and the only reason that we won was that we maintained our standards, we learnt our lessons and we were brave from the first second.

"The only way that you can upset Chelsea a little bit is to not allow them the ball, not allow them to feel themselves and they found it difficult in that respect but the moment you switch off you're going to be punished.

"All the positive things we did were backed up by the concentration levels at the back and it was a complete performance."

HOW IT HAPPENED:
Martinez decided to go with Jason Scotland on his own in attack and the former Championship striker was supported by the power of Paul Scharner and Rodallega, with Charles N'Zogbia giving the front four some quality. Scotland troubled Ricardo Carvalho and John Terry and Wigan did not take a backward step all afternoon. Chelsea were able to work their passing patterns but were stunned after slack marking allowed N'Zogbia the time to cross for Bramble to head the hosts in front. It looked as though Drogba's header would restore the natural order before Cech was dismissed and Rodallega scored the second. Fair enough, they were down to 10 men but Chelsea never troubled Wigan after that until the hosts began to sit deep and invited the Londoners forward. But then Cole limped off and Scharner scored a deserved third.

WHAT IT MEANS:
This may be an obvious statement but Chelsea have shown they are not invincible. There is a a way to play against them and worryingly for Ancelotti, there was precious little on the bench to affect things once the game was going against them. In the short term, Cech misses next Sunday's game against Liverpool and will be replaced by the jittery Henrique Hilario. Having played five of last season's top six already, Wigan can start to look upwards and this result should send confidence surging through the club. Martinez will hope that results over the next few weeks will pull them into a position that more reflects their progressiong.

QUOTABLE:
"If we feel we can go to Hull and beat them without even getting off the coach we're mistaken."
- Martinez injects a sense of reality despite the heady atmosphere at the DW Stadium.

WIGAN 3 (Bramble 16, Rodallega 53, Scharner 90) CHELSEA 1 (Drogba 47)

PLAYER MARKING:
Wigan (4-5-1): Kirkland 6; Melchiot 7, Bramble 7, Boyce 7, Figueroa 8; N'Zogbia, 9 Diame 8, Scharner 7, Thomas 6, Rodellega 8; Scotland 7.
Subs not used: Amaya, Cho, Koumas, Pollitt, Gomez, De Ridder, King.

Chelsea (4-1-2-1-2): Cech 4; Bosingwa 5 (Kalou 68, 6), Carvalho 5, Terry 6, Cole 7; Mikel 5 (Belletti 46, 6); Essien 7, Lampard 6; Malouda 7 (Hilario 52, 6); Anelka 6, Drogba 7.
Subs not used: Ivanovic, Zhirkov, Ferreira, Borini.

NEXT UP:
- Hull City v Wigan, Premier League, 03/10 1500 BST
- Apoel Nicosia v Chelsea, Champions League, 30/09 1945 BST

MAN OF THE MATCH:
Charles N'Zogbia (Wigan). The winger won few friends with his stroppy behaviour torwards the end of his spell at Newcastle but was at the heart of all that was good about Wigan. Surrounded by power, he gave Roberto Martinez's side the invention they needed.