Chelsea back to form

Tuesday, 25/01/2011

by Joshua Block, Shoot's Chelsea blogger

Chelsea produced a fine display to overcome a limp Bolton Wanderers side 4-0 last night and let the contenders to the Premier League crown know that the champions should not be written off just yet.

On an emotional occasion when tributes were paid to a true great in the late Nat Lofthouse, the Lion of Vienna, the Wanderers players simply couldn’t match up to Bolton’s greatest-ever player as they struggled to contain a rampant Didier Drogba on his way to a Man of the Match award in one of the Blues' favourite away grounds.

Although they started off brighter in the opening ten minutes, the home crowd were soon stunned into silence. Florent Malouda stole the ball off a hesitant Gretar Steinsson and gave the ball to Drogba in space, whereupon he decided to unleash an unstoppable 35-yard shot. Jussi Jaaskelainen had no chance as the ball somehow dipped under the bar and crashed into the back of the net.

From that moment on, all the fight drained from Bolton and Petr Cech was reduced to being a spectator aside from a couple of superb saves when called upon. Malouda continued his good work after he found space to collect a Jon Obi Mikel cross and finished from an acute angle just before half-time.

Nicolas Anelka was to add to his season’s tally in the 56th minute when he swept the ball past Jaaskelainen from a Michael Essien cross, making it 13 goals in total for the striker.

With 15 minutes left, the win was secured with a fouth from Ramires, his first goal for the club since his summer move from Benfica, sliding the ball in off the post from another Essien cross. He was immediately mobbed by joyous team-mates and the young Brazilian finally had his reward for his hard work over the past few games.

That made it 13 goals in three games without a reply for the Blues and another win notched up at a ground where Chelsea have won all their games in the Roman Abramovich era. Carlo Ancelotti took confidence from the win: “Step-by-step we can do it. Our aim is to do everything to try and come back.”

“Obviously we believe we can close the gap but first we have to play. The most important thing is that we come back to use our power, our strength and our personality.”

Ancelotti also confirmed the club are hoping to land young Benfica defender David Luiz in the coming days and if that transfer goes through, it will ease a lot of the defensive worries when John Terry or Alex are unavailable.

For now though, all eyes will be on Bloomfield Road as the neutrals’ favourites Blackpool take on Manchester United and Ancelotti will be hoping the Tangerines can do his side a favour by becoming the first team to beat United in the league this season.

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