CHELSEA RIPS WIGAN TO CLINCH PREMIER LEAGUE CROWN

Chelsea needed a win over Wigan to clinch the Premier League title, and the Blues scored early and often to wrap up the championship with an 8-0 rout.  Didier Drogba scored a hat trick to win the Premiership goal scoring title with 29, 3 more than Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney.  Chelsea finished the season with 103 goals and became the first team to exceed one hundred for the season since Tottenham did it in 1963-64.

Soccer betting enthusiasts that wanted to back the Premier League champions in their effort to clinch the title had to lay a hefty -775 home chalk price.  Their investment was well justified, however, as Chelsea put the game away early and continued to pour on the scoring throughout the contest.  Takeback on Wigan was a massive +2500, with the draw priced at +850.  Following an upset loss to Tottenham Hotspur that made the Premier League race tighter than many expected, Chelsea won their final three games by a combined margin 17-0.  

Nicolas Anelka scored the first of his two goals just six minutes into the game, and from that point Chelsea was ‘off to the races’.  Frank Lampard converted a penalty kick at 32 minutes to give Chelsea a 2-0 halftime advantage.   Chelsea poured it on in the second half—Salomon Kalou made it 3-0 less than 10 minutes into the second half before Nicolas Anelka scored his second at 56 minutes. Drogba scored at 63 minutes and converted a penalty at 68 minutes.  He completed his hat trick at 80 minutes before Ashley Cole capped the scoring in stoppage time.

After the contest, manager Carlo Ancelotti celebrated his first title win at Chelsea:

''It's fantastic, we did our best and I did my best for this club. There's a fantastic atmosphere at this club, with these supporters, and I think we deserved to win the championship after this season. We are very happy.”

''There are a lot of things we're happy about. We're happy for this record, for Didier being the top scorer, but the most important thing is that we showed some good play.''

Defender John Terry, who spent as much time in the tabloid gossip pages as the sports news this season, sounded almost relieved:

''It's about Chelsea Football Club and our day today. It's been a hard three years, not winning the Premier League, but we've done it today and we deserved it.”

''It's been inside of me for three years, seeing Man United lift it season after season and every single one of us has sat there and watched it. And now it's their turn to sit there and watch us today.''

Chelsea has a chance to make some more history when they face Portsmouth in the FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium next week.  Only 7 other teams in English football history have won the country’s club championship and the Premiership crown in the same season.