Nathan Ellington's double-barrelled blast fired Wigan to the top of the Championship as Paul Jewell's side went some way towards exacting revenge for last season's play-off heartbreak, upon a distinctly woeful West Ham side.
Having endured the agony of the Hammers' late, late equaliser at the JJB Stadium that toppled them from the play-off spots in the final minute of the final game of last season, livewire Wigan came to Upton Park clearly looking for retribution.
It took the unbeaten Latics just five minutes to get their noses in front when Ellington met Gary Teale's right-wing cross with a well placed, ten-yard header which squeezed between the diving Stephen Bywater and the left post.
That was the first goal the hitherto undefeated Eastenders had conceded this term, but on 12 minutes it could have got even worse when Wigan skipper Matt Jackson sent a firm header into the Hammers' keeper's ribcage.
Shortly afterwards, the alert Bywater had to frantically back-pedal to nod Tomas Repka's over-zealous backpass off his own goal-line and, as the half-hour mark approached, Teale volleyed just wide from 12 yards, before Jason Roberts skied over.
In reply, with the Hammers posing negligible threat, Wigan keeper John Filan merely basked in the Sunday sun as Nigel Reo-Coker sent a rising 20-yarder over while Sergei Rebrov – again isolated on the right wing – totally missed his kick on a rare foray into the box.
When Jason Roberts seized on Andy Melville's 45th-minute mistake, to burst clear from halfway, round the exposed Bywater and double Wigan's advantage, the home side deservedly departed to predictable half-time jeers of 'What a load of rubbish.' In a bid to stem the one-way traffic, both Bobby Zamora and Luke Chadwick were introduced for the restart as Rebrov and the anonymous Marlon Harewood stood down.
But their arrivals had little effect.
For, after 58 minutes, it was game over as Teale delivered another inch-perfect right-wing cross to the far post where Ellington rose highest to beat two defenders and powerfully nod Wigan into an unassailable three-goal lead.
Midway through the second half, the tenacity of Nigel Reo-Coker enabled Zamora to slide home the England Under-21 international midfielder's low centre at the second attempt, but that goal was always only going to be a mere consolation for a Hammers side that had been comprehensively out-fought and out-thought all over the pitch.
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