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Nicolas Anelka opened his Chelsea account as the FA Cup holders booked their place in the fifth round at the expense of Wigan.

A deft flick with the outside of Anelka's right boot guided the ball beyond Chris Kirkland from Juliano Belletti's superb through ball in the first moment of real quality to light up an otherwise poor game at the JJB Stadium.

The £15million signing from Bolton then turned provider as he shrugged off Kevin Kilbane's weak challenge before squaring for Shaun Wright-Phillips to slot home through Kirkland's legs eight minutes from time.

Substitute Antoine Sibierski smashed home a superb effort from the edge of the area five minutes later to give Wigan hope of a comeback, but they could not fashion an equaliser, despite Marcus Bent rattling the top of the bar in added time.

Michael Brown could also find himself in hot water after felling Claude Makelele with a stray elbow, which incensed the entire Chelsea bench, but was missed by referee Uriah Rennie and his assistants.

Scrappy affair

The visitors started brightly and after just 50 seconds Chelsea swiftly ripped through the Latics, culminating in Steve Sidwell sliding the ball on for Joe Cole, making his 200th appearance for the club.

But the man who despatched a clinical shot to see off Everton in midweek was this time wide with a curled right-foot shot from the edge of the area.

After that, Wigan tightened up considerably in defence, with their only other moment of consternation in the opening period arriving in the 11th minute.

When Kilbane collided with Anelka in the area there were Chelsea appeals for a penalty, but referee Rennie chose to dismiss the protests.

A scrappy affair followed, not helped by the rutted JJB Stadium pitch which has given Wigan manager Steve Bruce recent cause for concern.

There was one pass from Emile Heskey played into the path of Bent, but with only Cech to beat, Wayne Bridge produced a perfectly-timed tackle to thwart the danger.

That was it as far as the first half went, so mercifully for all concerned the second half did not follow a similar pattern, with the goal the game needed arriving six minutes after the restart.

Devastating

After Ryan Taylor had been robbed of the ball inside the centre circle, Chelsea broke to devastating effect, culminating in Belletti's weighted pass into the heart of the area.

With Titus Bramble just playing Anelka onside, the Frenchman beat the advancing Kirkland to the ball to stab home from 12 yards for his 12th goal of the season overall.

Wigan, though, could have drawn level three minutes later, only for the legs of Cech to deny Heskey's effort from the corner of the six-yard box.

Following that came a moment of controversy that had the entire Chelsea bench jumping off their feet and into the technical area in protest as, off the ball, Brown caught Chelsea captain Makelele in the throat with an elbow, yet neither Rennie nor his assistant saw the incident.

Chelsea then clinched their place in the fifth round in the 82nd minute, initially after left-back Kilbane lost a 50-50 challenge with Anelka in the right-back position.

Anelka ran on towards the area and slipped a ball across the 18-yard box for Wright-Phillips to sidefoot home through the legs of Kirkland for his sixth goal of the season.

Chelsea should then have seen the game out, but first came Sibierski's immaculate strike from the edge of the area, prior to Blues' hearts pounding with Bent's effort. But Grant's side, though, continue to march on in all four competitions.

Teams

Wigan Athletic  Kirkland, Bramble, Melchiot, Scharner, Taylor (Koumas 58), Brown, Kilbane, Palacios (Sibierski 77), Valencia, Bent, Heskey (Aghahowa 85)
Subs Not Used Pollitt, Boyce
Booked Bramble, Scharner, Palacios, Aghahowa
Goals Sibierski 87

Chelsea  Cech, Alex, Belletti, Bridge, Carvalho, J. Cole, Makelele, Malouda (Ferreira 80), Sidwell, Wright-Phillips, Anelka (Pizarro 90)
Subs Not Used  Cudicini, Ben-Haim, Sinclair
Booked  Alex, Carvalho
Goals  Anelka 53, Wright-Phillips 82

Attendance 14,166

Referee U. Rennie