Summary
Daniel Sturridge's ninth goal of the season, a quality strike in the second half, was not enough to maintain the winning run as the home side were allowed to equalise late on.

Chelsea enjoyed the bulk of the possession on a chilly evening in Lancashire but were limited to mostly shots from distance in the first half, although Didier Drogba did go close with a header.
A formation change for the second half looked to have paid dividends but once the hard work of breaking down the Wigan defence had been done, instead of closing out the game, the Blues allowed Roberto Martinez's side some chances, one that required Branislav Ivanovic to clear close to the line before the lead was surrendered when Jordi Gomez scored after Petr Cech didn't hold a shot.


Best moment
There was so much left for Sturridge to do when the ball cleared the closest Wigan defender but from wide right of the goal, he brought it down instantly with one touch and then smashed it past Al Habsi with his right foot. Sadly it was not enough for three points.


Team news
Ramires was out with a bruised leg so there was one change to the team that started the win against Manchester City. Frank Lampard returned to midfield.

In defence, Branislav Ivanovic continued at centre-back. David Luiz was unavailable for this game due to a minor injury. Both he and Ramires are given an 80 per cent chance of being fit for the game against Spurs on Thursday.

Didier Drogba, Daniel Sturridge and Juan Mata continued as the three-pronged attack.

Wigan were unchanged from their win at West Brom the previous weekend. Former Chelsea striker Franco Di Santo was on the Latics' bench.

First half
After a first five minutes that passed without incident, Wigan's Jordi Gomez made a burst into the Chelsea area before tumbling with Ashley Cole in close attendance. The Blues left-back clearly thought the Wigan wide man had not been touched and referee Martin Atkinson agreed.

Wigan made a couple of early errors in their own half but Chelsea couldn't extract any benefit. A quck link up between Mata and Cole threatened to create danger but Cole's cross fell the way of the home side's defenders.

The first shot at goal by either side came after 13 minutes. Chelsea had been applying pressure on Wigan for some time before Terry carried the ball into space and shot from 25 yards out, his shot dropping not too far wide of the post with Al Habsi diving full length.

Enterprising play down the right by Sturridge had won an earlier corner that came to nothing and after Bosingwa won another midway through the half, it was again cleared initially but the ball then landed at the feet of Romeu. His 20-yard shot was low and harder and this time Al Habsi's dive was needed to keep it out of the bottom corner.

Wigan responded with a few minutes going forward themselves, the home fans briefly raising the noise levels, but they could find no way through a Chelsea defence that had men where they were needed.

When Diame did find room to shoot from wide left of the penalty area, it curved away from the target. A yard the other way and Cech might have been beaten.

On 35 minutes Moses went down under a Chelsea challenge again, this time from Ivanovic and this time outside the area. Again the ref was unimpressed, as were the home fans when their team weren't awarded a free-kick.

Three minutes later Drogba did very well to reach a curled Meireles delivery first but stooping and from eight yards out, his glanced header went just wide. That was one the best chance of the half for the visitors.

Wigan were angry once more with a refereeing decision before the break when Jones smashed a shot on target that was blocked by Ivanovic. 'Handball' were the shouts and it did hit the Serbian's arm but that was tucked in tight against his body; it was hard to see how contact could have been avoided.

In stoppage time Meireles sliced a shot when a Bosingwa cross was headed out. Against Wigan's three-man defence, our Portuguese full back was finding chances to take on and beat his marker when he came forward.

Wigan could have gone ahead in stoppage time when a ball was fired across our six-yard box, but the stretching Moses failed to make any contact.

Any hopes the home fans had of making their displeasure with the refereeing known to Atkinson were killed when cranked-up music was switched on the instant the half-time whistle blew.


Second half
There was a half-time change made by Villas-Boas. Romeu was replaced by Kalou with the shape changing to 4-2-3-1. Not for the first time this season when the performance had been lacking a creative spark, a switch was made that allowed Mata to play more in the middle behind the centre-forward.

Kalou was playing on the left but the first danger of the half created by Chelsea came from a cross from the right, Bosingwa not far at all from serving it up for a Drogba header.

Moses almost did the same for Sammon at the other end on 50 minutes and when the ball came back to Moses just outside the post, he skied his shot with the goal just a couple of yards away.

Four minutes later Chelsea put together a very good move. Lampard, now playing alongside Meireles as one of the two deeper midfielders, passed the ball up to Mata who did well to keep it in a tight spot. Cole was next in possession, feeding Kalou who took on and beat his man along the byline. He picked out his countryman and Drogba did well to get a shot away but his instinctive prod with the outside of his boot hit the sidenetting.

The breakthrough had been coming given the balance of play and it finally arrived on 58 minutes thanks to a moment of high quality from Sturridge, although Cole deserves plenty of credit too for a crossfield ball from just inside the Wigan half. It cleared Figueroa and with two Sturridge touches the ball was in the net.

Wigan responded with two long-range shots, the first wide from Jones, the second from Moses forcing Cech into a diving save.

Mikel replaced Mata as a shape similar to the first half was restored. Soon after Wigan brought on two attacking players, Di Santo and Rodallega.

Seconds later Terry went up for a header with Di Santo and collapsed in pain on landing. He needed treatment but this being JT, was able to play on.

Wigan could have easily got back on level terms with quarter of an hour to go when for a brief moment it was pandemonium at the back for Chelsea. First Cech won a block tackle against Rodallega just outside his area and before he could get back on his line and with bodies chasing in all directions, Di Santo had a shot which Ivanovic headed away from the target.

Wigan were enjoying their best period of the game and on 87 minutes they made us pay. Again it was a messy moment in the Chelsea area as Rodallega slipped behind Bosingwa onto a pass and shot. Cech only managed to parry the ball sideways and Gomez was there to sweep it in from close range.

Before the end the home fans were shouting for a penalty once more, Bosingwa and Di Santo tangling on the edge of the box, but play was waved on.

Chelsea will reflect on it as a day when not enough chances were created from a game that was in our grip until the closing stages.

Chelsea (4-3-3): Cech; Bosingwa; Ivanovic, Terry (c), Cole; Meireles, Romeu (Kalou h-t), Lampard; Sturridge (Malouda 80), Drogba, Mata (Mikel 65).
Unused subs Turnbull, Ferreira, McEachran, Torres.
Scorer Sturridge 58.

Wigan (3-4-1-2): Al Habsi; Alcaraz, Caldwell (c), Figueroa; Stam, Diame, McCarthy, Jones (Rodallega 72); Gomez; Moses, Sammon (Di Santo 72).
Unused subs Pollitt, Watson, Gohouri, Crusat, McArthur.
Scorer Gomez 86

Referee Martin Atkinson
Crowd 18,320