Anelka is Chelsea’s saving grace

IT is unclear whether Nicolas Anelka saw the man holding a banner stating “It is time to seek the lord” outside the JJB Stadium on Saturday.

But the Frenchman, whose name is always pre-fixed by the word enigmatic, chose Wigan as the place to make his first divine intervention for Chelsea.

So much is said about Anelka but his form and his attitude over the past two seasons can not be called into question. He already looks a shrewd purchase by Avram Grant, even if Chelsea had to begrudgingly stump up €22.5 million to prise him from Bolton earlier this month.

After scoring one and setting up the other in his fourth appearance for his new club, Anelka, who last won silverware in England a decade ago with Arsenal, said: “It’s a while since I won a medal, it would be nice if I could put that right this year, and there’s a good chance because we are already in the Carling Cup final. I am looking forward to trying to win that one and also we are still in the race for everything else.”

With so many absentees, a glance at the Chelsea starting line-up hardly inspires awe at the moment but Anelka brings guaranteed goals that will keep Grant’s team, who have won eight in a row, ticking over. Grant went with Steve Sidwell and Claude Makelele in front of the back four at the weekend, with Joe Cole, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Florent Malouda given freedom to join the lone striker at every opportunity.

It was far from slick and while Anelka won plenty of headers, he slipped into the usual trap of finding every run behind the Wigan defence ended with him glancing over at the linesman who had just ruled him offside. In a career with so much change, that has been one constant.

But when he got it right, he killed Wigan. Eight minutes after the break, Juliano Belletti’s long ball over the top saw Anelka time his run perfectly, with Titus Bramble playing him onside, and volley past the stranded Chris Kirkland.

Wigan manager Steve Bruce had warned about such an eventuality and it spoiled a decent display from Bramble, clearly told to kick the ball 60 yards in any direction after giving away a goal under-hitting a back-pass in last week’s 2-1 defeat to Everton.

If the opener showed Anelka’s anticipation and touch, the second showed a grit and unselfishness. He chased down Paulo Ferreira’s long clearance and nudged Kevin Kilbane with not quite enough aggression to be pulled up for a foul and as Paul Scharner closed him down, squared for Wright-Phillips to score Chelsea’s second with eight minutes left.

Antoine Sibierski pulled one back in added time with a fine turn and volley but despite Marcus Bent hitting the bar in stoppage time, it was too late for Wigan.

Steve Bruce was in no doubt about Anelka’s ability. “You can understand why he’s gone for the money he’s gone for,” he said. “He’s got that quality, that bit of class. We talked about it for three days that he can’t get in between you and lo and behold he was in between us. He was the difference.”

Chelsea officials insisted Ashley Cole, whose complex private life has been the subject of several tabloid reports, was “rested” ahead of Wednesday’s clash with Reading. Despite Anelka’s fine performance, it is unlikely Cole will have read about his new team-mate’s display in yesterday’s red tops.

WIGAN (4-4-2): Kirkland 7, Melchiot 7, Bramble 5, Scharner 6, Kilbane 4, Valencia 6, Brown 7, Palacios 6 (Sibierski 77, 7), Taylor 6 (Koumas 58, 7), Bent 5 Heskey 6 (Aghahowa 85, 6).

Subs Not Used: Pollitt, Boyce.

CHELSEA (4-2-3-1): Cech 6, Belletti 7, Carvalho 7, Alex 6, Bridge 7, Makelele 6, Sidwell 6, Wright-Phillips 7, Malouda 5 (Ferreira 80, 6), Joe Cole 7, Anelka 8 (Pizarro 90, 6).

Subs Not Used: Cudicini, Sinclair, Ben-Haim.

REFEREE: Uriah Rennie (South Yorkshire) 6: Could have booked Anelka for a first-half dive in the box but punished a similar offence by Palacios with a yellow.

MATCH RATING: ** In a half-full stadium, this was a typical 5.15 affair and may have had some wishing they went to Oldham’s game against Huddersfield instead.