Luck on side of tinkering Italian

Almost seven years since Chelsea dismissed Claudio Ranieri, with fans and media alike mockingly labelling the Italian ‘The Tinkerman’, they are celebrating another change-happy manager who is on the cusp of succeeding where Ranieri failed.

For the win over Wigan, Roberto Di Matteo made seven changes to the team that beat Benfica on Wednesday night, with usual stalwarts Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard and captain John Terry not even making the substitutes’ bench, although the latter has been playing with cracked ribs.

And the victory has kept Di Matteo’s side in the hunt for an automatic Champions League spot as well as awarding precious recovery time to key players with the club still in the hunt for FA Cup and Champions League glory.