Who saw this one coming? None of the pundits, certainly, but according to the local paper, 53 Blackpool fans have bet on Blackpool to win the Premier League. We can safely assume Ian Holloway will not be rushing to the bookies to join them. The game's most quotable manager continues to insist that yesterday's comprehensive winners suffer by comparison with the team promoted by play-off last season, and survival is still his target.

He was not about to poop the party by mentioning it, but he is all too aware of Burnley's experience last season – when they beat Manchester United and Everton in their first two home games, but were still relegated straight back from whence they came. Holloway did, however, describe this start as "surreal", and said of Saturday's trip to the Emirates: "I just hope we don't get embarrassed." The Tangerine legions were having none of that, of course, and headed for home singing "We are top of the league" and "Bring on Arsenal".

'Olly', as he is universally known, lost four players after seeing off Cardiff at Wembley, notably DJ Campbell, who contributed 11 goals on loan from Leicester and whom he wanted to keep. Generally, he endured what he called a "hideous" summer, during which 40 assorted targets, many of them from the Championship, balked at the wage ceiling of £10,000 per week imposed by the chairman Karl Oyston.

Unimpressed, Marlon Harewood nearly joined League One Huddersfield instead, but he found Holloway at his most persuasive, and managerial persistence finally paid off last Thursday, with impressive rewards here. The former Aston Villa striker celebrated his debut by scoring twice and making another for Gary Taylor-Fletcher. Harewood was signed to replace Ben Burgess, who was Blackpool's target man last season and who left for Notts County when they offered him better terms, which says all we need to know about the constraints under which Holloway is working.

Oyston has his critics, and understandably so, but given a stadium currently unfit for purpose, with a capacity of 12,000, he is sensibly refusing to be held to ransom over transfer fees or wages. Unfortunately for Holloway, this policy has left him hamstrung in seeking to reinforce what was only the sixth-best team in the Championship last season. He was unable to afford the relatively modest demands of Campbell, Rob Hulse [Derby], Jon Stead [Ipswich] and Robert Koren [West Brom] because they were looking for £12,000-a week plus. Last night, he said he hoped Harewood's productive debut would persuade the chairman to let him sign more in similar vein.

Wigan's need is more obvious. On the final day of last season they were thrashed 8-0 by Chelsea and, instead of getting that out of their system, they are off to the worst possible start. In it-never-rains-but-it-pours mode, Roberto Martínez, the manager, revealed that Charles N'Zogbia, his best player, had been left out of the squad because he was "mentally unfit". After playing for France in midweek, the midfielder reiterated his desire to move on. "It is something we will address internally," Martinez said, adding that he had more pressing concerns.

One of these, at least, was easy to identify. At a time when England goalkeepers are under the microscope, the match was a personal disaster for Chris Kirkland, whose maladroit hands were to blame for three of the goals. He was blameless for the first, when Harewood's low cross to the far post set up Taylor-Fletcher for a clipped finish. The second came when Harewood's low shot from the left slipped through the keeper's fingers and the third, which had the outcome settled by half-time, was rammed in by Harewood, following up after Kirkland had failed to hold Elliot Grandin's shot.

Martínez said of a first half that ended with his players loudly booed by their own supporters: "That was unacceptable. We knew we had to match the enthusiasm of Blackpool because, when a side gets promoted, they always have that honeymoon period. Unfortunately, we didn't match them and if we play like that we are going to get beaten every week."

The second half was only marginally better for Wigan, and not at all for their hapless goalkeeper, who let a long cross from Alex Baptiste elude him for the fourth goal. Four-nil was about right, but it should really have been 5-1. It was an emotional afternoon for the referee, Mark Halsey, returning after battling throat cancer, but, while we all wish him well, it has to be said he got two big decisions wrong. After 19 minutes, he ruled out a 'goal' by Taylor-Fletcher for offside when replays showed he was on, and he did it again early in the second half, disallowing a legitimate headed reply from Wigan's Steve Gohouri.

The day, though, was Blackpool's, regardless, and the last word belonged to Holloway. "It was a good day because things went our way," he said. "We needed to find our feet really quickly and now we have got the monkey of not having won an away game off our back. I'm going to take a photo of the league table and retire now because that's the highest we will be all season."

THE FANS' PLAYER RATINGS AND VERDICT

DAVE WHALLEY, Observer reader That was a total disgrace. I almost walked out it was so bad. The team looked like strangers, with no motivation, no invention and no spirit. It was unacceptable and now it looks like a long relegation dogfight for the team. Our defence was a joke of quite epic proportions. There was no organisation, no leadership and no quality. There are rumours of off-field tension between Martínez and Charles N'Zogbia, who was not even in the squad. But that's no excuse for the total shambles I witnessed. It's all very well playing pretty football but it doesn't go anywhere.

The fan's player ratings Kirkland 3; Boyce 5 (Stam ht 7), Gohouri 5, Alcaraz 4, Figueroa 3; Diamé 4 (Thomas ht 6), Watson 5; Moses 6 (McArthur 72 5), McCarthy 5, Rodallega 4; Boselli 4

JACK GAUGHAN, Blackpool.VitalFootball.co.uk What a start. Why can't we play Wigan every week? They were dreadful. We tackled, passed and out-muscled them off the park. Our team were really good. The adrenaline from last season was still pumping through the players. All our new signings played well. Harewood was great up front and Cathcart looked assured at the back even though he hasn't had much time to train with his team-mates. Some players only arrived on Thursday, so it was good effort all in all. I think we can go to the Emirates next week and get a draw. Our squad does need bolstering, though, or we are going to struggle.

The fan's player ratings Gilks 8; Baptiste 8, Cathcart 7, Evatt 8, Crainey 7; Vaughan 8, Adam 7, Taylor-Fletcher 8 (Euell 76 n/a); Ormerod 7 (Sylvestre 59 7), Harewood 9 (Basham 60 6), Grandin 7

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