Premier League: Wigan v Chelsea full-time report

Frank Lampard celebrates with Eden Hazard

Wigan 0 Chelsea 2

Chelsea got their Premier League campaign off to a winning start against Wigan thanks to two goals inside the opening seven minutes by Branislav Ivanovic and Frank Lampard.

Summer signing Eden Hazard was the architect for both goals at the DW Stadium. The Belgian set up Ivanovic, who placed the ball past Ali Al-Habsi with barely two minutes on the clock, before winning a penalty minutes later after a sloppy challenge by Ivan Ramis.

Lampard duly converted to open his account for the new season and effectively win the match for the European champions inside the first 10 minutes.

Wigan did well to regroup and were unfortunate not to score themselves – particularly at the end of the clash when substitute Arouna Koné ought to have netted a debut goal – but manager Roberto Martinez will take encouragement from the manner in which his players refused to let their heads' drop despite the early setback.

The opening goal was created after a sublime turn in the middle of the pitch by Hazard, who span his marker with an expert first touch before laying an inch-perfect pass to the onrushing Ivanovic. Despite a couple of unsure touches, the right-back found the composure to coolly slot the ball past Al-Habsi.

It was a bad start for the Latics - who retained their Premier League status by the skin of their teeth, not for the first time, last season – although things were about to get even worse.

Just five minutes later Chelsea had doubled their advantage, with Lampard scoring the penalty, won by the tricky Hazard.

The Belgium international, who joined the Blues for £32million from Lille in the summer, certainly made a big impression on his first Premier League appearance.

Hazard's fellow debutant Ramis, in the opponents' defence, clumsily lunged in on him – leaving referee Mike Jones with no option but to point to the spot.

And, later in the half, the home side were fortunate to avoid conceding another penalty when Antolin Alcaraz barged Fernando Torres inside the penalty area. On that occasion, Jones waved play on, much to the bewilderment of the Spanish striker.

Wigan were left with a mountain to climb after Lampard's goal but, to their credit, they refused to give up the fight.

Indeed, the hosts came close to pulling a goal back midway through the half - and following a spell of pressure in the Chelsea half - when ex-Blue Franco Di Santo met an inviting Emerson Boyce cross in the air but directed his header narrowly over the crossbar.

Barring the opening six minutes, it had been a fairly even first half, with Wigan playing like the team which won seven of their last nine matches at the end of last season.

Martinez's men ended the first half on top and went close again when Victor Moses – strongly linked with a move to Chelsea in recent weeks – forced Petr Cech into a save with a stinging shot, while Di Santo should have scored on the stroke of half-time when he beat the offside trap but failed to find a way past the Chelsea goalkeeper.

The visitors went into the break with their two-goal lead secured, but Wigan had shown enough in the opening 45 minutes to suggest they were capable of mounting a fight-back.

However, Chelsea deliberately slowed the play down after half-time and retained possession by passing the ball tidily between themselves.

The west Londoners almost netted a third goal just after the hour-mark when Torres raced clear of the Wigan defence and slid the ball past Al-Habsi, but the Euro 2012 Golden Boot winner was denied by a heroic goal-line clearance by Ramis, who atoned for his earlier error.

Both managers made changes soon after; Roberto di Matteo sent on the young Brazilian Oscar for Hazard, while Martinez withdrew Di Santo and handed a debut to Ivory Coast international Koné.

It was 20-year-old Oscar who went closest to making an immediate impact. The Brazil international showed great pace to get into a shooting position, and only narrowly missed the target from an acute angle.

But as Wigan piled on the pressure during the closing stages, Koné missed two glorious chances to pull a goal back.

He headed a corner just wide after getting ahead of Cech, who then made an instinctive save from the same man moments later. Jordi Gomez followed up the latter with a spectacular overhead kick, but missed the target, leaving Chelsea's clean sheet intact.

The Blues now have a chance to move to the top of the Premier League table when they face Reading at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night.

Rob Swan - follow me on Twitter

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