A goal of pure quality from Deco sent Chelsea to the top of the Premier League, although Luiz Felipe Scolari’s side made heavy weather of overcoming a determined Wigan Athletic side 1-0 at the JJB Stadium on Sunday.
The Brazilian-born Portuguese international, a summer signing from Barcelona, made it two goals in two games for his new club with a sublime finish from an early free-kick.
But Wigan refused to surrender and it required a string of fine saves from Czech Republic keeper Petr Cech before Chelsea could celebrate a win that leaves them five points above reigning champions Manchester United, who were away at Portsmouth late yesterday.
Unlike the four-goal drubbing of Portsmouth seven days earlier, this was a hard-earned three points for Scolari’s team.
Wigan, already denied the services of Austrian defender Paul Scharner to injury, were dealt a severe blow before the match had started when keeper Chris Kirkland was injured in the pre-match warm-up.
That paved the way for second-choice stopper Mike Pollitt to make his first Premier League start since conceding two goals against Arsenal nine months ago.
Yet the 36-year-old’s first touch was to fish the ball from the back of his net after Deco’s magnificently executed set-piece on four minutes.
It was conceded by Lee Cattermole, who handled just outside his own area and Deco did the rest.
Having spent four years watching Ronaldinho hammer home free-kicks for fun for Barcelona, finally Deco is first-choice and he is clearly determined to make up for lost time. Pollitt’s positioning was not great, but that should not take the gloss off what was a fabulous goal.
Within two minutes of falling behind, Cech was forced into the first of three excellent first-half saves after Honduras international Wilson Palacios cut inside from the left before testing the keeper.
The high-tempo start continued in the eighth minute when Amr Zaki, Wigan’s new Egyptian striker, found himself with a great scoring chance only to be thwarted by Cech’s body.
Then a fine one-touch move resulted in the dangerous Zaki having another effort parried away by the busy Chelsea keeper.
Wigan continued to plug away in the second half without success.
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