Decent first half and bad second half. Defence or the own half performance of Chelsea is becoming kind of a worry. I wouldn’t have complained if Wigan had scored a goal . . or two. While in table terms this is another very good weekend for us, I’m still concerned about our defence.

Once again, we got the early goal when SWP curved a pass to Super Frank, who won’t stop scoring. Within few minutes, Belletti stunned everyone (probably himself too!) with a 35 yard belter. SWP was zipping through every time he got the ball. He was wasteful too but I can’t deny that he tried hard and did well enough to set up the first goal.

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After we went 2-0 up, I was thinking (not hoping) that Avram would go for the kill and put the match out of Wigan’s reach by half time. Later I started to realise that it was not the plan. We had some chances to get the third goal but overall we did not seem to keen to get it.

In the second half, Wigan came with all guns blazing. For all of the 45 minutes in the second half, Wigan were the better team. We were made to look poor by a spirited home team. Suddenly the 5-yard passes could not be completed, we stopped winning headers, we lost possession of the ball even when were not mobile, Cech had to make some saves, Wigan had to have their misfortune and the sum total meant we won with a clean sheet. Defensively we were very fragile. A similar performance against the top four would have us bleed in 45 minutes.

Right from the beginning we were a bit lethargic and lacklustre. Either the players thought that we’re going to win for sure or were confident that Wigan is absolutely no match even for a low-gear Chelsea. That’s been our characteristic for the past few seasons. For the big matches, we stand up and deliver. For the smaller ones, we get the job done and stop running. If you wonder why I’m critical of our team while we have won 2-0, watch the second half. I just cannot see Chelsea defending poorly. Anyway, I stop my rant here. I’m extremely happy with this result in the bigger context of premier league contention.

Shevchenko was on the bench and didn’t play even a minute. That’s unfortunate for him. Having scored a good goal few days back, he’d have expected to show up on the pitch, at least instead of Kalou. Is Avram overdoing the ‘I-want-to-prove-to-you-that-I’m-the-boss’ thing?

In a very fruitful weekend in the premier league, Arsenal held Man Utd to a draw thanks to a stoppage time goal, about which Fergie is still complaining. It was an even match where the first half was played cautiously and the second half was high pressure and near mayhem at times. It was a fair result in the end and a good one from the Chelsea perspective. Liverpool drew at Blackburn which is even more fantastic news.

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So we’ve moved up to No.3. Premier league has become more competitive this season. It could be a superb title chase this time and even the European places are going to be very thrilling. From our point of view, we should continue with this winning streak while Arsenal and Man Utd should drop some cheap points before we meet them again. Overall, we’ve been doing very well and may be, it’s time for me to put up the report card of Avram Grant!