Nicolas Anelka scored his first Chelsea goal and laid on a second for Shaun Wright-Phillips as the FA Cup holders marched into the fifth round with a 2-1 win at Wigan on Saturday.
It was far from vintage stuff but Chelsea will be happy enough after Anelka got off the mark following his 15 million pound switch from Bolton.
His well-taken finish eight minutes after half-time set Avram Grant's team on the way to victory and he then made another with a cool pass to Wright-Phillips.
With three minutes left, Antoine Sibierski lashed in from just outside the area for a Wigan consolation but Chelsea are still chasing silverware on four fronts.
They made the brighter start at the JJB Stadium and Joe Cole beat Kevin Kilbane from Steve Sidwell's pass and struck a shot just high and wide of Chris Kirkland's goal with less than a minute gone.
But the Latics refused to be intimidated against their illustrious visitors and Ryan Taylor forced a save from Petr Cech with a low drive from 25 yards a minute later.
However, on a bog of a pitch, pretty football was always going to be difficult and there were long scrappy spells.
The visitors had a shout for a penalty in the 12th minute when Anelka tangled with Kilbane in the area but the award of a spot-kick would have been harsh and the French striker looked to have stuck his leg out to make contact with the Wigan defender.
It took some time but Wigan finally posed a decent threat as the half-hour mark approached. Emile Heskey slipped through for his strike-partner Marcus Bent but the forward's hesitation allowed Wayne Bridge to knock the ball out for a corner.
Bent rifled well over a couple of minutes later and Alex's crude tug earned the Brazilian a booking with Michael Brown threatening to break through.
As Wigan enjoyed a spell of pressure Paul Scharner struck over after Titus Bramble won a header on the edge of the box just after the restart.
But despite having an average opening period, Anelka produced when it really mattered to fire his team in front eight minutes after the break.
Anelka timed his run onto Juliano Belletti's pass perfectly, with Bramble playing him onside, and flicked the ball past Kirkland to open the scoring.
And just a minute later, Shaun Wright-Phillps went close to adding a second with a fierce drive after breaking from deep.
Florent Malouda could have made the game safe but his volley was wildly off-target from Cole's deep cross.
But the tie was settled with eight minutes left as Anelka nudged Kilbane to collect substitute Paulo Ferreira's clearance and then slid the ball square for Wright-Phillips to shoot through Kirkland's legs.
In the 87h minute, Sibierski controlled Koumas lofted pass with his back to goal and span to fire past Cech.
In added time, Bent's powerful strike flew over off the bar but it was too late for Wigan.
