Eden Hazard has made a glowing contribution in his Chelsea debut by helping the European champions to a 2-0 win against Wigan Athletic at the DW Stadium in their Premier League opener.
The Belgian winger, who cost in excess of £30million earlier this summer, created both goals for the Blues who powered away to a two-goal lead inside seven minutes before Wigan slowed things down and got themselves back into the contest.
In the second minute, Hazard played a wonderful ball into the path of a marauding Branislav Ivanovic who took a couple of touches whilst advancing into the area and slotting firmly past Ali Al Habsi for the opener.
Less than five minutes later, Hazard's wizardry had Latics debutant Ivan Ramis all tangled up with the Spaniard bringing the Chelsea flyer down in the area for Frank Lampard to step up and expertly convert from the penalty spot despite Al Habsi guessing the right way.
Franco Di Santo had a great chance to pull one back for Roberto Martinez's men when his 20th minute header was just over the bar before Victor Moses' effort from the wide right required saving by Petr Cech.
Both teams had penalty calls when Fernando Torres was shouldered over by Antolin Alcaraz on the edge of the area in the 18th minute before Cech grabbed the ball down the other end with his feet perhaps over the line but the referee waved away the protests much to the dismay of the Latics fans.
In the 64th minute, when things were a bit quiet, Torres' toe-poke under pressure fromAl Habsi was cleared off the line by Ramis with John Terry able to head clear down the other end as the Latics countered quickly.
Another good sign for Chelsea fans was Brazilian young gun Oscar replacing Hazard and coming close with his first effort with just over 20 minutes remaining.
Wigan new boy Arouna Kone had a great chance to kickstart his DW Stadium career with a goal when he headed wide with seven minutes left moments before Cech unknowingly kept out the Ivorian from close range with Jordi Gomez's acrobatic attempt went wide. You could tell from this it simply wasn't Wigan's day as they slumped to a home defeat to kick off the campaign with Roberto Di Matteo's Blues picking up all three points in a solid beginning.
Wigan Athletic: 0 Chelsea: 2 (Branislav Ivanovic 2', Frank Lampard (p) 7')
DW Stadium, Wigan
Yellow cards:WIG - Gary Caldwell 11', James McArthur 57' CHE - David Luiz 35', Frank Lampard 81'
Match notes: - Ivan Ramis, Arouna Kone (WIG & Premier League debut), Eden Hazard, Oscar (CHE & Premier League debut)
