Jordi Gomez struck with just three minutes remaining to secure a vital point in Wigan‘s fight for survival and bring Chelsea‘s title challenge to a stuttering halt.
The in-form midfielder was on hand to tap in his fourth goal in five games following Petr Cech’s fumble to give the Latic’s hope of beating the drop and lift the confidence levels at the DW Stadium even higher following their win at West Brom last week. Roberto Martinez’s men certainly deserved a point for their hearty endeavours against the Blues who were broght back down to earth with a thump following their win against Manchester City on Monday night. Andre Villas-Boas’ side looked on course to make it four wins in a row that would have closed the gap between league leaders City and themselves to four points. Daniel Sturridge’s goal just before the hour appeared to have settled a game that was evenly contested despite both sides being at opposite ends of the table.
It was the home side who started the brighter with Gomez having a penalty shout turned down after he tumbled in the penalty area before Chelsea went on the offensive. Unfortunately the Wigan defence was appearing uncharacteristically resolute restricting the visitors to pot shots from distance with John Terry fizzing an effort over from 30-yards. The impressive Oriol Romeu then saw his sublime low volley tipped wide by Ali Al Habsi before Didier Drogba missed the best opportunity of the half five minutes before the break. Raul Meireles’ cross found the Ivory Coast hit man in the Wigan six-yard area only to see his diving header fly wide. More appeals for a spot kick were forthcoming from the Latics after Branislav Ivanovic appeared to block Victor Moses’ drive with his arm.
Chelsea continued to crank the pressure up after the restart and substitute Solomon Kalou almost made an instant impact only for Drogba to fire his cross into the side netting. It was going to take something special to breakdown Wigan’s uncompromising defence and Sturridge duly provided it taking Ashley Coles pass in his stride before firing his seventh Premier League goal of the season past Al Habsi. Wigan responded brilliantly to going behind with Maynor Figuero forcing Cech into a low save following a driving run up the left flank before Hugo Rodallega latched onto Ivanovic’s sloppy back pass only to be denied by the Chelsea keeper. Former Blues striker Franco Di Santo was sharp to the followup but was denied on the line by Ivanovic who made up for his almost fatal error seconds earlier. The hosts continued their pursuit of an equaliser and were rewarded in the 87th minute as Gomez tapped home after Cech spilled Rodallega’s effort.
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AVB failed us tonight with that crazy gamble he did, so disappointing and for ones since he got this job i’d say men u suck cos have always believed in you and you let me down today, this match ain’t a match you need to gamble with, you need to play with passion and you brought in tired legs instead of players that are trying to get back the place the lost in the team..
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briandobbs Reply:
December 18th, 2011 at 2:17 pm
I do not usually write comments however as a Chelsea fan I am becoming increasingly frustrated. I see the logic here and you could well be right. However to draw with Wigan (and no disrespect to Wigan as I think the relationship between owner and manager is second to none) in such a fashion is highly questionable. I understand this is a “transition” phase but as a coach do you not want to win games, especially so called bread and butter ones. I am by no means super coach, you can not play a high line with two of the slowest centre backs in the league and ESPECIALLY if your so called holding midfielder is also lacking pace, yes I’m afraid that this talk of Romeu being the answer to the role doesn’t sit well, he is too slow, maybe Luiz is the answer and he can then confidently make those surging runs. To take Mata (apparently the creative player and I do believe that) off and put THE slowest player at the club on, oh boy! Taking Sturridge off, although overly selfish at times (but then what forward isn’t?) again I was scratching my head. MsEachran looked a forlorn figure on the bench. Is this young man, who obviously has talent, gonna be left to decline, if he is gonna be loaned out he needs to show his value maybe. AVB supposedly had a reputation as a great motivator of men, looking at the faces on the bench I do not see it, particularly a certain Fernando Torres. What is the future of European football coaching doing to this guy. I get the “we will put him on the bench in the hopes that when he steps on the field he will take out his frustration on the oppositions net”, well then doesn’t he needs to at least get on the pitch. When Drogba (allegedly) came out and said that he would go to who ever paid him the most I would have axed him, if you are playing just for money then you need to go. As a Chelsea fan watching yesterdays game my frustration boiled over, I felt I wasted 2 hours of my time, or that heck I could do better that this AVB chap, but then I will continue to watch, probably complain and kick the cat, ah the beauty of being a football fan! That’s better, time for a cup of tea and to apologize to the cat!
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