The Blues took the lead in controversial circumstances after Branislav Ivanovic finished from close range when clearly offside from Raul Meireles' cross.

Chelsea then scored a last-gasp winner to strengthen their chances of a top-four finish in the Premier League this season, but Di Matteo congratulated Wigan on their display.

"I haven't seen the replays yet but despite all that I think Wigan were really unlucky not to get something out of this game. They played very well and put in a great performance today," he said.

Di Matteo praised his players for accepting that they will sometimes be rested for certain games, and confirmed he will test John Terry, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole ahead of their next match on Monday.

He added: "The players have accepted that we are a team, a group. They realise that everyone is needed to be able to achieve our targets. It's the only way, we cannot just play with 11 players, we need the whole squad.

"We are in a position unfortunately where we have to win and we are pleased with the three points even though you say it wasn't a sparkling performance. I think that also shows the strength of the team.

"Even though we tend to concede towards the end of the game we react to it positively. That's a good sign for this club.

"At that stage Wigan probably deserved the equaliser because they were pushing us well. Of course we would like not to concede but that's football.

"We seem to be getting goals from everywhere at the moment. That makes us a little bit more unpredictable and takes a bit of pressure off the strikers as well."