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Scant consolation, maybe, but it is not only English-born footballers who look better for their club than country. Petr Cech did not have the happiest time in goal for the Czech Republic during the European Championship this summer, but he was the reason Chelsea took three points and a place at the top of the Barclays Premier League table yesterday.

After the euphoria of the opening-day demolition of Portsmouth, this was very much business as usual, a slender victory ground out against opposition who were, for large periods, superior but simply lack the financial clout to buy the players who make the difference.

Deco, in this case, whose third-minute free kick was still all that separated the teams some 93 minutes later when Alan Wiley, the referee, brought the contest to a frustrating end for the home side. Beyond the one moment of magic, then, the difference was Cech, who made four excellent saves to deny Wigan Athletic, while at the other end Mike Pollitt, the stand-in goalkeeper after Chris Kirkland suffered a back injury in the warm-up, was largely untroubled.

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Cech saved at the near post in the fifth minute after Wilson Palacios – who had an outstanding first half but could not sustain it – cut inside José Bosingwa, then again two minutes later after Jason Koumas had played the ball through to Amr Zaki, a hugely promising forward from Egypt.

In the 25th minute, the move of the match, involving Emile Heskey and Emmerson Boyce, was finished by another shot from Zaki, this time from the edge of the area, which Cech kept out, and with three minutes remaining, near the end of a dire second half, he moved quickly to tip round a shot by Olivier Kapo, a Wigan substitute.

It was a performance that revived memories of Cech at his best, before misfortune left him vulnerable physically, and perhaps mentally. If uncharacteristic mistakes had blighted his summer tournament, here was a goalkeeper at the top of his game, bravely off his line to any cross that strayed within his range, completely in command on a day when his defence looked surprisingly vulnerable.

“If you were listing the greatest goalkeepers in the world, you would say Cech and Gianluigi Buffon, and maybe one other,” Luiz Felipe Scolari, the Chelsea manager, said. “In training, if we are doing one hour, he wants to do two – he has not let us down in any game since I have been here.”

Steve Bruce, the Wigan manager, knew that his team had missed an opportunity. Chelsea’s form against Portsmouth last week was terrifying but Bruce and his players refused to be intimidated, put an extra body in midfield to match Chelsea’s small army and were by far the better team in the first half. John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho were challenged in a way that eluded last week’s strikers, Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe, and the full backs were not allowed the space to operate as wingers.

Understandably, this level of commitment was tough to maintain and Wigan seemed to hit a wall after an hour, while still producing the only noteworthy chance of the second half. In all, they did enough to win and Scolari knew as much. His team were not inconsistent, he said, Wigan were simply stronger opponents than Portsmouth. “They had good ability, power and they put pressure on us,” he said. “In England, sometimes, to win 1-0 is like winning 10-0, because last can beat first.”

He said that several players are not entirely fit, including Michael Essien, Frank Lampard and Michael Ballack. Bruce saw it differently. “It is getting harder to beat the top teams with each new season,” he said. “Chelsea had a bad day today, but then Deco comes along and changes everything with one kick. If it isn’t Deco it will be Nicolas Anelka, or Joe Cole, or Florent Malouda, one of them is going to do something special – and all big clubs have that string of talent.

“When we first won the Premier League at Manchester United, the team to beat that season was Norwich City. That is never going to happen again. The gap is huge now. A team wins the league and buys four players. Chelsea got to the European Cup final and lost, so they bought two more. We used to laugh at the situation in Scotland with Rangers and Celtic. Not any more.”

It was tough on Bruce, who ended last season by losing at home to Manchester United, another match in which his team had the edge. Wigan have yet to gain a point this season, but impressed with the way they hustled Chelsea, without resorting to roughhouse tactics or the long ball. Palacios was outstanding early on, while Zaki and Luis Antonio Valencia were tirelessly energetic.

What Wigan do not have, and will never have unless football’s finances undergo a radical transformation, is a master like Deco, a player who got one chance all game, and a difficult one at that, and needed no more.

Lee Cattermole handled the ball on the edge of the area, Ballack voiced the sort of appeal that would have rattled even the most flint-hearted taekwondo judge, and the free kick was duly awarded. Deco, with his right foot, lifted the ball over the wall and into the top left-hand corner of Pollitt’s net. If Wigan had only known, the three points were gone.

“Deco is such an intelligent player,” Scolari said. “He waited for one little mistake from the goalkeeper, moving just too far in one direction, and then he adjusted his angle and scored. He thinks about the game. I have watched him in training all week, and he puts them in the other corner – but this is why he is one of the best players in the world.”

Scolari will meet board members at Chelsea tomorrow to discuss the last seven days of the transfer window, which should bring a move to Everton for Shaun Wright-Phillips and the completion of the £28 million deal for Robinho, of Real Madrid.

John Benson, the Wigan general manager, meanwhile, is in Seoul checking on Park Chu Young, the winger, and a £4 million purchase. Park was the Asian player of the year four years ago but has been in and out of the national side. Wigan accomplished a feat to only lose 1-0, really, all things considered.

Wigan ratings

4-2-3-1

M Pollitt 6 M Melchiot 6 E Boyce 6 T Bramble 6 M Figueroa 6 L Cattermole 7 W Palacios 7 L A Valencia 7 J Koumas 5 A Zaki 7 E Heskey 6

Substitutes: D de Ridder 5 (for Koumas, 46min), O Kapo (for Palacios, 79), H Camara (for Melchiot, 84). Not used: C Nash, M Brown, K Kilbane, A Sibierski. Next: Hull City (a).

Chelsea ratings

4-1-3-1-1

P Cech 9 J Bosingwa 5 J Terry 5 R Carvalho 5 A Cole 7 M Essien 7 M Ballack 7 F Lampard 6 Deco 7 J Cole 6 N Anelka 5

Substitutes: S Kalou 5 (for J Cole, 57), W Bridge (for A Cole, 82), F Malouda (for Anelka, 88). Not used: Hilário, B Ivanovic, Alex, J Belletti. Next: Tottenham (h).

Referee: A Wiley.

Attendance: 18,139