Chelsea 6-0 Wigan: Reaction

Well it was tough going to start but in the end it was yet another romp in the afternoon sun for the Chelsea boys. We're almost getting used to huge scorelines: In the past five Premier League matches they've contested, the Blues have put up a mouth-watering 29 goals scored to zero against. Only Liverpool has escaped with their dignity relatively intact, and we still beat them 2-0 at home, something that the Anfield faithful will hardly have been pleased with.

To be fair to Wigan, the home team gave it a go, and they'll consider the result unfair. They had Chelsea worried for the majority of the first half, and Florent Malouda's opener was so far against the run of play that he could almost see it coming the other direction. If things had broken just a little differently for the Latics - if Maynor Figueroa or Hugo Rodallega had aimed a little better during Wigan's spell of dominance, Chelsea might have been staring their first loss of the season square in the face. Unfortunately for them, but much to our relief, Cech kept the shots out and the sheet clean, and Chelsea went on to rack up goals on the other end of the pitch.

Didier Drogba didn't score any goals this time but he made up for it by assisting on three and contributing heavily to another two. Nicolas Anelka and Salomon Kalou each scored a brace (hopefully there'll be more of that from the non-Drogba strikers this year), and Yossi Benayoun found himself with nothing to do but sidefoot the ball home from ten yards under no pressure. You have to imagine that the players might be finding it too easy at this point. In fact, they seemed pretty content to let Wigan boss them around for a while - is this team trying to play with a handicap just to give the opposition a sporting chance?

Two weeks ago Chelsea were on a losing streak of three games and it was about to get worse, but the Blues have well and truly put the preseason to bed with some stunning play in their opening two matches. While it's a little odd that they've had such a quiet pair of first halves, in the second 45 of each match they've absolutely dominated, pouring on the style and the goals against admittedly inferior opposition. Chelsea have had by far the easiest schedule of any team in the Premier League, but points are points, goals are goals, and both are in the bag. Stoke City are our next opposition, and they'll come into Stamford Bridge sans their first-choice forwards. Does anyone fancy another thrashing, or would that be too much to ask?

Life's feeling pretty good right now.

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