Chelsea hit Wigan for six

Nicolas Anelka and substitute Salomon Kalou both bagged braces with Florent Malouda and Yossi Benayoun also getting on the scoresheet as the champions cantered to their second win of the new season.

Having secured the title on the final day of last season with an 8-0 win over the Latics, Carlo Ancelotti's side have scored 20 goals in their last three Premier League outings and after two games of the new campaign they boast an enviable goal difference of plus-12.

Wigan, meanwhile, were unable to avenge that drubbing in May, crashing to back-to-back defeats after their 4-0 capitulation against Blackpool on the opening day of this season.

That defeat prompted Roberto Martinez to make three changes to his side. In came Charles N'Zogbia, Hendry Thomas and Ronnie Stam, the latter to make his first start for the Latics, and the initial results were positive.

Wigan started brightly, keeping possession well and playing some neat football at times, although they struggled to test Chelsea keeper Petr Cech, who made comfortable early saves from Mohamed Diame and Hugo Rodallega.

Wigan may have been the better side for the opening half hour, at least in terms of possession, yet given the quality in Chelsea's side their menace is constant, whether overt or hidden.

And so it proved when Malouda struck to give them the lead on the break, the Frenchman taking full advantage of Maynor Figueroa's abject failure to react quickly after good work by Ashley Cole had resulted in Chris Kirkland parrying Frank Lampard's shot away from goal.

The Honduran's doziness allowed Malouda to slot into an empty net, gifting Chelsea the lead and paving the way for a second-half Wigan collapse that saw the hosts concede twice in four minutes and wave goodbye to any hope of getting anything from the game.

Having watched his strike partner Drogba grab a hat-trick a week ago, it was Anelka's turn to get among the goals and the Frenchman, who was banned by his country for 18 games earlier in the week, showed he too knows where the net is.

Three minutes after the break he ran onto John Obi Mikel's excellent long ball, taking his time before firing low and hard past Kirkland from a narrow angle. The Wigan keeper could have addressed his angles better, but Anelka still had plenty of work to do, which he did with aplomb.

Just minutes later Anelka got his second and Chelsea's third, a simple header from close range after Drogba had side-footed Malouda's deep cross back across the face of goal. There was more than a hint of offside as the ball came to Anelka, but the flag stayed down and the goal stood.

Credit to Wigan, they refused to roll over and take the beating lying down. Even at 3-0 down, the hosts continued to enjoy spells of possession and they nearly had a penalty on 57 minutes when the ball appeared to strike Alex on the arm.

Referee Mike Dean waved play on and Wigan were frustrated by the officials again just five minutes later when Mario Boselli had the ball in the back of the net but with the flag up for offside, his effort was disallowed.

Wigan could not muster much else, and with 78 minutes on the clock Chelsea made it four, Drogba presenting a goal on a plate for Kalou who tapped home as the pair lead a quick Chelsea break.

The Ivorian grabbed his second in the final minute, an excellent header from his compatriot Drogba's cross, before fellow substitute Benayoun opened his Chelsea account with the last kick of the game.