Chelsea 4-1 Wigan
Rafael Benitez expresses his opinion after the game:
On the performance
‘It’s always important to win, it was a good game against a good team,’ said Benitez. ‘They like to play football, we scored the goals at the end but we had the chances and I felt the players worked very hard.
‘The opportunity to use more players was much better for us. We were able to use David Luiz and Eden Hazard, so we moved Ramires to the right. That was crucial for us as we knew they would play with three at the back so we knew he would be an important player. He did well with [Fernando] Torres and scored the first goal, so I was really pleased.’
On Wigan’s appeals for a second-half penalty after the ball had hit Ashley Cole’s hand
‘I could see there was a crowd and they were complaining. I didn’t see the situation but I think we deserved to win.’
On utilising the depth of his squad
‘Oscar had a bit of cramp, Gary Cahill did as well, because they are playing so many games and they were away on international break.
‘We were able to move David Luiz to centre-back, and we didn’t have that option before, [Juan] Mata was on the bench and we were able to bring him on for Oscar, so it was really good. In the past it was more difficult to change the game.
‘I was also able to use Yossi [Benayoun] and Marko Marin, so it’s much better now as we are able to manage the game in a different way.
‘With [Victor] Moses and [John] Mikel Obi, we will have two more options. It’s important for us to have more bodies because you can change players for others with fresh legs and with the quality we have it will be easier.’
On our current form
‘What we have to do is win. When you have experience you know it can sometimes be difficult; you can win, you can lose, that’s the way it is.
‘If you want to win something you have to be consistent, that’s normal. It’s not the end of the world if you throw away a game when you play well. The problem for me is if we don’t create chances or score goals, but we do that in every game.
‘We are making some mistakes but we have a lot of positives, we could have scored six goals at the end.’
On Frank Lampard
‘In the last two months he’s scored eight or nine goals. I’m the manager and I try to improve my players. When Lampard’s fit his understanding of the game is fine. He can score goals, so if he breaks the record I’ll be really pleased.’
