Performing a new duty as Chelsea manager by discussing a defeat, Carlo Ancelotti had no simple explanation but acknowledged a good opposition display.

What the outcome would have been had the game been completed with 11 players on both sides is open to big debate, the visitors from London having levelled Wigan's first-half lead just 90 seconds after the interval. But Petr Cech was soon sent off, a refereeing decision Ancelotti had no wish to contest, and the penalty that followed put the Latics back ahead.

There were further chances at both ends but it was left for Wigan to complete the scoring in stoppage time.

'At the end of the match was impossible because we lost also Ashley Cole [to injury] and were playing nine against eleven,' highlighted Ancelotti. He was however in no mood to make excuses for the 3-1 loss.

'Wigan played very well. They showed a very good organisation, very good play and I was surprised by this.

'Today we played a bad game and Wigan played better than us. They used all the pitch to attack and were very quick to counter attack. It was the right result. I didn't expect this performance but this is football and we have to look forward to the next game.'

Asked why the Chelsea players had failed to perform to high standards they have set themselves, Ancelotti gave a short and regretful laugh.

'This is the question! I don't know why because I think we prepared very well for this match. We know how it was an important match but it can happen after a lot of victories.

'I don't think we were too confident but in football it can happen that there is one day that is not good. Now I have to look at this game and what was not good. We have to accept this result but have to fix it for the next match in the Champions League.'

Wigan's new manager Roberto Martinez, after taking a first 'top four' scalp for his club, believed his team's reaction to Didier Drogba's 100^th Chelsea goal was key to their success.

'When you are a team like Wigan and you play against the top four you have two options,' the Spaniard said. 'If you want to be brave you can beat them or you can get hammered, and in the last two games that is what happened. We lost 4-0 and 5-0 and today the reason we won was we carried on with our standards and learnt our lesson. We have been brave.'

'I think that we started very well,' noted Ancelotti. 'The first 10 minutes we did very well and then we slept for the first goal against us and our match was then more complicated.

'We started the second-half better. I was a long distance from the red card situation and I don't know what happened but also I don't want to comment on the decision of the referee, I don't like to do this.'

Cech was dismissed when his foot caught that of Hugo Rodallega as the Wigan man went past.

'For sure Petr was unhappy but for a goalkeeper one against one this can happen,' said his manager.

Cech will be suspended for next Sunday's visit by Liverpool to Stamford Bridge. Ashley Cole's late exit from the Wigan game was due to a knock on the knee and John Mikel Obi was taken off at half-time after a similar injury to his ankle. Michael Ballack was not involved due to a minor calf strain.

'There will be a lot of competition until the end of the season, finished the Chelsea manager having seen his team now level on points with Man United. 'Now we are together at the top of the league and I think this will be maintained until the end of the season.'

Read Giles Smith's blog entry after the Wigan game.

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