FRANK LAMPARD kept Chelsea's faint title hopes flickering with a last-gasp winner.
Wigan looked to have snatched a point when Olivier Kapo cancelled out John Terry's opener with eight minutes remaining.
But Lampard popped up in stoppage time to lift the Blues into second place on goal difference.
Guus Hiddink's men are now seven points behind leaders Manchester United and the champions have a game in hand.
But Hiddink insists his team will chase United all the way.
He said: “I am realistic and we have to win our games first.
“Hopefully they will be a little bit more comfortable than today.
“Man Utd are in a good seat but as long as we have a possibility and it is not decided, we will fight and that is what the team showed at Villa last week and again against Wigan.
“As long as the team is keeping up this fighting spirit, we keep on going for the things that can be reached.”
Wigan boss Steve Bruce claimed referee Lee Probert missed a push from Lampard on Mario Melchiot for the winner.
He said: “I thought we deserved something but we didn’t get it unfortunately.
“In my opinion the referee has made a poor decision. He is only 15 yards away from it.
"Frank has obviously got his hand in Mario’s back and he has turned him round as he’s gone to head it.
“It is obvious that he has got that one wrong and it has gone against us.
"That is a big shame because I thought the team deserved to get something from the game.
“We don’t seem to get these decisions in big games, on a big stage.
“We need the referee to be strong and not to get influenced. But it seems to happen all the time.
"We can go to Anfield and Stamford Bridge and it doesn’t seem to matter against little Wigan. It is very frustrating and disappointing as you can imagine.”
Paul Scharner should have put Wigan in front on 17 minutes when he was put through one-on-one with Petr Cech.
But the Czech keeper stood up well before palming Scharner's effort around a post.
Chelsea survived a double scare when Ashley Cole cleared a Titus Bramble header off the line and Terry did likewise seconds later with a Charles N’Zogbia shot.
Hiddink's men hit back and Chris Kirkland tipped John Obi Mikel's 25-yarder over.
But Chelsea went ahead against the run of play on 24 minutes when Emmerson Boyce partially cleared a cross by Lampard and Terry smashed home a volley on the edge of the penalty area.
Lee Cattermole was lucky to escape with just a yellow card in the 28th minute when he left Mikel writhing on the ground with a reckless challenge.
Nicolas Anelka was just wide with a header from Lampard’s 31st-minute corner.
Chelsea should have gone further ahead in the 35th minute but Lampard failed to finish when found superbly in the area by Salomon Kalou.
Lampard’s shot was kept out by Kirkland and Michael Ballack was then deemed offside when his header from the rebound was cleared off the line by Bramble.
A shot from Didier Drogba was well saved by Kirkland, with Terry putting the rebound over.
Lampard's speculative 40-yard free-kick required Kirkland to watch it carefully as the ball bounced in front of him.
Drogba's effort two minutes after the break was acrobatically cleared off the line by Bramble.
In the 61st minute, Cattermole sent a low drive wide of the target from 20 yards.
Hiddink had complained that Chelsea tired in the second half of their Champions League win over Juventus in midweek. And there were similar signs as Wigan began to find more space in midfield.
A quick break in the 68th minute ended with the visitors winning a free-kick 25 yards from goal but substitute Hugo Rodallega’s effort was charged down by Chelsea’s defensive wall.
In the 78th minute Wigan wasted a chance to equalise when a cross from Maynor Figueroa was headed over by Scharner.
Seconds later Zaki sent a curling effort just wide as Chelsea faded badly.
The inevitable happened in the 82nd minute when Figueroa’s cross was turned in by Kapo who got ahead of Anelka to slide the ball under Cech.
But Lampard restored Chelsea’s lead with a stoppage-time header that looped over Kirkland.
Chelsea: Cech, Mancienne (Quaresma 81), Alex, Terry, Ashley Cole, Ballack, Mikel, Lampard, Kalou (Belletti 75), Anelka, Drogba. Subs not used: Hilario, Ivanovic, Di Santo, Malouda, Ferreira. Booked: Alex, Terry, Mancienne. Goals: Terry 25, Lampard 90.
Wigan: Kirkland, Melchiot, Bramble, Boyce, Figueroa, Cattermole (Rodallega 69), Brown, Scharner, Kapo, Zaki (Sibierski 89), N'Zogbia. Subs not used: Kingson, Edman, Kupisz, Routledge, Holt. Booked: N’Zogbia, Cattermole. Goals: Kapo 82.
