Source: Telegraph
Deco and Nicolas Anelka keep up Chelsea's winning run on the road
When your game is supposedly faltering and you are confronted by the Premier League's in form team, you could be excused a sense of trepidation. Chelsea, palpably, had no such concerns. [LNB]They restored the old order with an economy of endeavour and purpose that suggested the defeat by Arsenal inflicted near flesh wounds. [LNB]Chelsea were doubtless content to be back on the road. This was their 11th consecutive league win away from home, a record in the top division, and appropriately attained on the ground where they secured their first title of the Abramovich regime. [LNB]The making of this season's champions will, of course, demand sterner examination. Bolton had failed to score against Chelsea here in six years and must have feared the die was cast again when Kevin Davies squandered an early opportunity. [LNB]Instead the familiar conviction of Nicolas Anelka came back to torment Bolton and set the match on its irresistible course. The centre forward sold to Chelsea for £15 million 11 months ago registered his 15th goal of the campaign and his former club, having racked up four wins in five matches, was suddenly deflated. [LNB]Bolton's cause was all but lost by the 21st minute, when Deco acrobatically despatched Chelsea's second. [LNB]The Brazilian-born Portugal international ought to have given his side a third, early in the second half, but in the main Chelsea appeared satisfied with what they had and although Bolton mustered the occasional menace, an air of inevitability descended on the Reebok. [LNB]Even on a day when Petr Cech appeared ill at ease, he still managed to snuff out the last prospect of a Bolton revival with an excellent stop from Gary Cahill. [LNB]Luiz Felipe Scolari, the Chelsea manager, deputed his assistant, Ray Wilkins, to field questions about alleged dissention in the camp. [LNB]"The spirit in the camp is different class," Wilkins maintained. "You don't perform like that if there's dissent in the camp. It hurts these lads when they lose. Where that story comes from I don't know. [LNB]"It was a fantastic performance. It was always going to be tough coming here, but you have to respect the way people play and match them. Our lads were up for a scrap and they showed that. Once we do that our football comes through." [LNB]Wilkins was equally adamant the club's apparent vulnerability at home was no cause for alarm. "Teams come and block up the midfield and put 10 men behind the ball. Overall we're delighted where we are, we're in a fantastic position. We'll get back on track at home." [LNB]Bolton should have ended that long search for a home goal against Chelsea when Gavin McCann's corner kick invited the fabled aerial attack of Davies. To the disbelief of everyone in the stadium, he headed over. [LNB]Barely two minutes later Chelsea led and this time the predictable materialised. Anelka, back in the environment where he resuscitated his Premier League career, met Jose Bosingwa's cross with a lunging header and the ball went in off the inside of the near post. [LNB]Salomon Kalou wisely ignored Anelka, drifting into an offside position, as Chelsea hunted a second. Jussi Jaaskelainen blocked Kalou's low shot but Michael Ballack headed the ball back into the area and Deco executed the perfect bicycle kick to beat the Bolton goalkeeper. [LNB]Bolton recovered sufficient composure to mount a more concerted threat in the second half yet rarely tested the reflexes of Cech. Deco skipped clear, only to miscue embarrassingly with his attempted chip and Frank Lampard shot straight at Jaaskelainen. [LNB]Bolton's plight committed them to an open match and they might have been rewarded when Johan Elmander made an excellent connection with his volley. Alas for the Swede, the ball cannoned away off John Terry. [LNB]Davies, persistently muscling his way into Chelsea's area, clicked on for Cahill to head goalwards and Cech responded splendidly. He was also alert enough to defy McCann from the rebound. [LNB]Gary Megson, the Bolton manager, acknowledged his team were always swimming against the tide after those two early goals. [LNB]He said: "I was bitterly disappointed with our defending for the first goal. Any centre forward in the Premier League would have scored that, not just Nic. We needed to be more intense but too few players gave us what we needed in the first-half. [LNB]"In the second-half we were better but by then we were two down." [LNB]
