Florent Malouda stopped short of sparking one of the deepest crises of French football history at the World Cup finals. He left that to his Chelsea team-mate Nicolas Anelka. The midfielder’s tournament, nonetheless, qualified as tumultuous, what with his bust-up with the coach Raymond Domenech, hearing his commitment questioned and being dropped twice from the starting line-up.

A summer that had promised so much for Malouda, after his 15 goals and prominent role in Chelsea’s Double season, was reduced to bitter frustration and Carlo Ancelotti said the player had been “angry” when he returned for pre-season training. Chelsea’s Italian manager had meant to say Malouda looked “hungry”, but he quickly decided that both words fitted the bill.

Malouda has begun the season like a man determined to show his worth, and his rampaging performance against a Stoke City team still without a point was embellished by a fourth goal in three games. “Malouda is one of our best players right now,” Ancelotti said. “He wanted to improve on his poor performances at the World Cup and I think he is doing very well. It is a good motivation to come back and be excited to play with Chelsea.”

Anelka said that Malouda is one of the “livelier lads” in the dressing-room, and that he enjoyed the role as the team’s unofficial DJ. Malouda’s reggae belts out every day, according to Anelka, while his dance moves lift the mood. It is principally his development over the past year or so, however, that has served to establish the Frenchman as one of the squad’s leaders.

“This is his fourth season at the club so he’s got used to it and he has more confidence on the pitch,” Anelka said. “It’s difficult to come from the French league and, straight away, play for Chelsea. It’s tough in England, everything is quicker. But now he knows the English league. He is one of the best. He has everything.”

Chelsea might have inflicted another humiliating scoreline on their opponents had Frank Lampard not missed his third penalty in a row for club and country. Ashley Cole, Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou spurned chances. Cole also hit the crossbar with a sumptuous volley.

But Chelsea’s power and intensity was such that the result never felt in doubt, despite Stoke’s sporadic threat. Jon Walters went close in the first-half, Matthew Etherington had a shot cleared by Drogba and Glenn Whelan hit the bar from 25 yards.

Tony Pulis, the Stoke manager, was hopeful of making four new signings before the closure of the transfer window while he is also trying to keep the reserve goalkeeper, Asmir Begovic, out of Chelsea’s clutches. The London club have had a bid of £4.5m rejected. Pulis saluted the work ethic and positive attitude of his players; on this evidence, the results will turn for him.

Chelsea’s goals stemmed from their bullying aggression. Alex and John Terry swarmed over Kenwyne Jones in the 32nd minute to win possession on half-way, Terry playing in Malouda while Drogba knocked Dean Whitehead off the ball before hitting it towards Anelka, who was brought down by Thomas Sorensen for the game’s second penalty. Drogba scored but he later said Lampard, who had been substituted, will continue to be the first-choice penalty taker.

“We are playing good football,” Ancelotti said, “but we can show not just good football. It was a physical match and we were ready for that. We are a physical team, we have a lot of power. We have to be ready to play different kinds of football.”

Premier LeagueChelseaStoke CityDavid Hytnerguardian.co.uk

Like Blackpool, Chelsea probably wish they could play Wigan every week, though, unlike Ian Holloway’s team, the London club’s supporters would soon become bored of such an arrangement. This was another six-goal mismatch for the Blues and, even if it only turned into a rout in the final minutes, the fact that Chelsea are in double figures for goals just two games into the season gives the lie to the idea that there are no easy games in the Premier League. There are certainly easy starts and they don’t come much less demanding than West Brom at home followed by Wigan away.

Chelsea must have returned home wondering how on earth they managed to lose here last season. Wigan’s support drifted off fearing the worst about the trip to Spurs next weekend, scene of a 9-1 mauling last season. People have been asking what is the point of Wigan Athletic, to which one of their own supporters claimed in a webchat last week that they were proud to sit at the bottom of the Premier League like an unflushable turd. Much more of this, one feels, and this could be the season they finally disappear round the U-bend.

The side taken to the cleaners by Blackpool last weekend, causing more mirth at Wigan’s expense than George Formby used to manage and prompting bookmakers to offer an astonishing 15-1 on a home victory here, actually kept the champions pinned in their own half for the first half-hour. That was just about all they did as Petr Cech made three comfortable saves from Maynor Figueroa and Hugo Rodallega (twice), but these were three more saves than Chris Kirkland needed to make. Without ever looking seriously threatening Wigan gave Chelsea a few things to think about, with Mohammed Diamé and Charles N’Zogbia working the ball up the right wing well and James McCarthy bristling with intent in central midfield.

John Terry, booed along with Chelsea’s other England players, made a couple of mistakes while the scores were level, though Wigan being Wigan he was allowed to get away with them. Mauro Boselli, the home side’s new record signing, at £6.5m, from Estudiantes, was not in the game enough to exude any menace and neither was James McCarthy quick enough to find him when Terry gave away the ball.

All too predictably, Wigan were left regretting this when Chelsea almost casually put a move together just past the half-hour mark and took the lead. Didier Drogba began the attack, before Ashley Cole combined with Frank Lampard on the left to remind the sparse Wigan crowd that booing decent players is not such a clever idea. Lampard only flicked a shot in Kirkland’s direction, but the Wigan goalkeeper still had to dive full length to get a hand to it, and with no defenders on hand to help him out, it was a simple matter for Florent Malouda to roll the loose ball over the line.

The question now was whether Wigan would retain enough self-belief to keep taking the game to Chelsea, or whether they would allow their heads to drop and suffer another heavy defeat. Even last season, Roberto Martínez was talking about the need to toughen up and fight back from recoverable situations before the cause became completely lost, but his players never seemed to get the message. At least they reached half-time here without shipping any more goals. By the same stage last week, Blackpool were three up.

Unfortunately for Martínez, Chelsea needed only three second-half minutes to extend their lead. Rodallega had a half-chance at the other end, but could not make anything of it, and when Mikel John Obi played in Nicolas Anelka a minute later, the man who blows his nose in the direction of French football showed how a real finisher goes about his work, slotting the ball coolly past Kirkland from a narrow angle.

Old habits die hard and Wigan characteristically conceded a third just four minutes later. Malouda’s cross from the left was turned back across goal by Drogba, a couple of defenders on the line did nothing to address the situation and Anelka was allowed to get his head to the ball for a simple second.

One thing Martínez must sort out, if he is to keep his job and prevent any more embarrassing scorelines, is who takes responsibility at the back. Steve Bruce made Wigan hard to beat, if occasionally hard to watch. Martínez appears to have loftier ideals, but no amount of passing and moving can overcome three- or four-goal deficits.

Wigan played some of their best football after going three down, with McCarthy seeing a shot touched onto the post and Boselli being denied his first goal by a raised offside flag, though by that stage Chelsea were easing up and thinking of their next game, even if Terry was fortunate not to see a second yellow card for a sly lunge at N’Zogbia’s ankle.

Chelsea on economy setting were still too much for Wigan to handle, however, and once Drogba’s strong run from halfway set up a goal for Salomon Kalou, there was always the chance that more would arrive before the end. They duly did, with Kalou adding another and Yossi Benayoun notching his first for his new club right at the end. Wigan are just no good at damage limitation.

Premier LeagueWigan AthleticChelseaPaul Wilsonguardian.co.uk