The problem with being England manager is the lack of control over players, so you could be forgiven for thinking that Fabio Capello was mesmerised by the performance of Dean Ashton. The West Ham striker not only scored twice in the opening ten minutes but did so looking as if he had taken Capello’s advice to heart. Yes, Ashton had listened to the Italian and given up the pepperoni.

Capello, however, should also have reminded Ashton to deal with his tendency towards injury. The striker limped off in the second half with a calf problem. However, Capello was not so smitten by Ashton that he failed to note Emile Heskey and the Wigan Athletic forward was included in the England squad to face the Czech Republic on Wednesday.

“If the England manager tells you he wants you to lose weight, then that’s what you do,” Ashton said. “I’ve worked hard in the summer and I have lost some weight – exactly how much is for me to know. It’s difficult when you’re out for a year, especially for someone of my size. It was just a case of eating healthily and making sure you eat the right things. My favourite food will always be pizza but it’s a case of not eating it all the time.”

Heskey made no changes to his waistline and was, as he so often has been, an unselfish foil for his strike partner, in this instance Amr Zaki, the Egypt forward who scored on his Premier League debut with a chance set up by a Heskey flick.

“I’ve played with Heskey for a while now and I’m a massive fan,” Chris Kirkland, the Wigan goalkeeper said. “You know you’ll get a hard time from him and he’ll never give in. He proved it over the two games he played for England with Michael Owen last season.”

Capello clearly did not allow the scoreline to cloud his judgment and the visiting fans enthusiastically applauded at the final whistle.

Despite stuttering in the first half, Wigan were dominant in the second with Wilson Palacios living up to the tag of “the magician” that he has given in his native Honduras. The manner in which Steve Bruce’s side switched from looking like relegation fodder to a top ten team was as magical as the Ashton Diet.

West Ham United (4-4-2): R Green 5 – V Behrami 5, C Davenport 6, M Upson 5, L Neill 5 – J Faubert 6 (sub: L Boa Morte, 86), M Noble 5, S Parker 5 (sub: H Mullins, 73), M Etherington – D Ashton 7 (sub: F Sears, 73), C Cole 5.

Substitutes not used: J Lastuvka, K Reid, L Bowyer, J Spence. Booked: Parker, Davenport. Next: Manchester City (a).

Wigan Athletic (4-4-2): C Kirkland 5 – M Melchiot 5 (sub: D de Ridder, 83), E Boyce 5, P Scharner 5 (sub: J Koumas, 83), M Figueroa 6 – L A Valencia 5, W Palacios 7, L Cattermole 5 (sub: A Sibierski, 86), O Kapo 5 – E Heskey 6, A Zaki 6. Substitutes not used: M Pollitt, K Kilbane, M Brown, T Bramble. Booked: Palacios. Next: Chelsea (h).

Referee: S Bennett. Attendance: 32,758

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