Chelsea 4 Bolton Wanderers 0: match report

28 October 2009 21:51
If Chelsea were to follow the in-vogue trend for seeking stadium naming rights, they should simply change their stadium to Fortress Stamford Bridge after claiming a 10th straight home win and ninth of the season. They also extended their run without conceding a goal at home to an impressive 13 hours and two minutes. [LNB]Chelsea left some big hitters out but still moved comfortably into the quarter-finals of the Carling Cup thanks to goals from Salomon Kalou, Florent Malouda, Deco and Didier Drogba to take their recent goal tally to 13 in three games, in three different competitions. This was a warning to the rest; whatever team Chelsea field in whatever competition they are in, they mean business. [LNB] Related ArticlesCarlo Ancelotti looking to rest playersChelsea form nothing to sneeze atChelsea's 'Mind Room'Capello must find room for ColeSwine flu no concern for AncelottiMegson: Bolton players suffered from swine fluCarlo Ancelotti, the Chelsea manager, remained faithful to his promise to give striker Daniel Sturridge his first start since arriving from Manchester City, while Alex was back in defence after recovering from a groin strain in the summer. [LNB]Chelsea made a total of seven changes from the side that beat a Blackburn team suffering from an outbreak of swine flu on Saturday and Bolton Wanderers arrived with their manager Gary Megson admitting there had been cases of the illness at his club. [LNB]That may have explained the omission of John Terry, the Chelsea captain, who complained back in September that he had been spat at by Ivan Klasnic, playing for Croatia against England at Wembley. [LNB]Given the warning from the authorities, to Premier League players, to stop spitting to avoid the spread of the epidemic - and the fact that Klasnic was making only his third start since arriving on loan from Nantes, Terry was well out of the way. [LNB]Bolton made four changes from the side that won 3-2 against Everton, with goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi, an Omani international, given a rare opportunity ahead of Jussi Jaaskelainen. It was, in fact, Al Habsi's first start for Bolton for 17 months, when he featured in the last game of the 2007-08 season - at Stamford Bridge. [LNB]Chelsea went into the game boasting a run of nine straight home wins, two short of the club record set in 2006, and had not conceded a goal at Stamford Bridge in 11 hours and 32 minutes prior to kick-off. Just one goal had beaten the Chelsea rear-guard all season, and given that Bolton had scored only seven away goals, the portents for an away win were not good. [LNB]And that possibility increased after just 15 minutes when they took the lead. With Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka, who have scored 13 goals, rested, it fell to Salomon Kalou to claim his fourth goal of the season . [LNB]It was a simple goal: Paulo Ferreira crossed from the left and Kalou rose unchallenged to head into the top right hand corner. The Ivorian scored the winner in the previous round, against Queens Park Rangers, and his latest effort settled the nerves at Stamford Bridge. [LNB]Bolton tried to respond within a minute when Gretar Steinsson crossed from the right and the ball fell to Matt Taylor, whose shot was parried by Henrique Hilario but the goalkeeper struck his head on the ground and he needed lengthy treatment before continuing. [LNB]But just a few minutes later Hilario went down again, clearly unable to continue, so allowing former Middlesbrough goalkeeper Ross Turnbull the third choice at Stamford Bridge to make his debut, after just 23 minutes. [LNB]And in the 26th minute Chelsea extended their advantage when Kalou fed Malouda, whose first touch bounced off Bolton defender Zat Knight before presenting the midfielder with the red boots with a simple finish. [LNB]Before the interval Al Habsi saved well from Kalou, with Sturridge completely missing the bounce from the rebound. [LNB]Both sides made interval changes with Bolton's Steinsson making way for Johan Elmander, and Chelsea replacing Kalou with Michael Essien. [LNB]And Chelsea wasted little time in threatening again, with Joe Cole's attempt not far off target. Juliano Belletti was allowed another chance that was squandered and Chelsea were given a reality jolt when, from Elmander's determination, Mark Davies saw a good attempt well blocked by Turnbull. [LNB]Then just before the hour mark, Sturridge had two chances to open his Chelsea account but the striker stabbed both efforts wide. [LNB]A third goal arrived in the 67th minute when Joe Cole crossed, substitute Drogba missed the ball, but Deco latched onto it before finding the bottom left hand corner. And in the final minute Drogba completed the rout. [LNB]Match details [LNB]Chelsea (4-1-2-1-2): Hilario; Belletti, Alex, Ivanovic, Ferreira; Deco; Ballack, Malouda; J Cole; Kalou (Essien ht), Sturridge (Drogba 62).Subs: Turnbull, Lampard, Matic, Bruma, Borini.Bolton Wanderers (4-5-1): Al Habsi; Ricketts, Cahill, Knight, Samuel; Steinsson (Elmander ht), Muamba, M Davies, Taylor (Basham 65), Gardner; Klasnic. Subs: Jaaskelainen (g), Robinson, Cohen, Lee, A O'Brien.Referee: A Marriner (W Midlands). [LNB]

Source: Telegraph