Walking Down The Manny Road - Chelsea 5 Bolton Wanderers 1

The impressive Lampard scored twice and laid on a couple more as Chelsea keep up their impressive unbeaten league run which stretches right back to a year ago this weekend.

Bolton started very brightly and where matching their London opponents in the opening half but a change of system to accomodate former Wanderers striker Eidur Gudjohnsen in the forward line paid dividens for Jose Mourinho's side.

As expected the Blues moved the ball around fluently but it was to be good interplay by the visiting side which brought about a shock opening goal by Greek international Stelios Giannakopoulos on four minutes.

Kevin Davies flicked the ball on to El-Hadji Diouf and the Senegalese striker held of the challenge to thread a neat angled ball through to Giannakopoulos who confidently stroked his second goal of the season past Blues keeper Petr Cech.

Midfielder Joe Cole did his level best to force an immediate response from the home side as his rasping volley was palmed away by Jussi Jaaskelainen in the Bolton goal.

Bolton's stand in captain Gary Speed then saw a trademark header from a dangerous set piece go over the crossbar as the Trotters looked to add more weight to their promising early start.

Jaaskelainen remained equal to a couple of long range Lampard efforts but it was clear to see that the former West Ham midfielder would be keeping the big Finnish stopper on his toes for the afternoon.

On the half hour mark Didier Drogba thought he had forced a Chelsea equaliser but the linesman's assistant ruled the goal out for offside after Shaun Wright-Phillips had delivered a pinpoint low cross from the right into the area.

One of the first half talking points came ten minutes later as Mikael Essien produced a wild challenge on Bolton's Tal Ben-Haim which could have left the Israelian seriously injured. Referee Rob Styles saw fit to book the Ghanian midfielder as opposed to giving him his marching orders much to the disgust of the travelling Wanderers following.

Speed moments earlier crashed a thunderous effort with his right foot against the Chelsea angle as Wanderers looked to end the half on an even further high but a main source of concern for the away team was the fact that Wright-Phillips was being given far too many chances to exploit the Bolton left back Henrik Pedersen.

The speed and skill of Wright-Phillips was proving to be just too much for the out of position Dane and Wanderers boss Sam Allardyce brought on Jamaican substitute Ricardo Gardner in an attempt to halt the former Manchester City favourite in his tracks.

Chelsea came out in the second period with renewed hunger as Bolton where forced into yet another change with skipper Gary Speed making way for Japanese playmaker Hidetoshi Nakata due to a reoccurance of injury.

Drogba was to bring the game level at 1-1 on 52 minutes when he reacted quickly to Jaaskelainen's parry from Lampard's stinging free kick. The striker showed quick reactions to sweep the ball home clinically from just a couple of yards out and hereth begin the onslaught from the West London side.

One goal quickly became two as Lampard got his first of the afternoon thanks to some unselfish play by goalscorer Drogba. The tide of the game was slowly turning against Wanderers and it was to get even worse.

Substitute Gardner miscued the long ball and stuck out his right hand in an attempt to stop a Chelsea attack. Referee Styles had no option but to show the Bolton man the red card and the visitors where now firmly on the backfoot and forced to re-group.

Blues top scorer Lampard passed the resulting free kick into the back of the net to take advantage of a very sloppy Bolton wall which was left wide open by Abdoulaye Diagne-Faye.

By now the Wanderers heads started to go and the numerical Chelsea advantage proved to be a factor in a game which had opened up in a ten minute spell of sheer madness, or if your a Chelsea fan, sheer brilliance. The move for Lampard's first goal in particular was sublime as Gudjohnsen produced an excellent flick to Drogba who laid off the goalscorer with a backheel.

On the hour Drogba got his second goal of the game as Lampard's corner from the right was attacked first time by the former Marseille player to effectively end the game as a contest.

Gudjohnsen then inflicted further misery on his former club as he nodded the ball on and finished confidently in a move which was all his own work. The Icelander celebrated his return to the team with a goal which left one time team mate Jussi Jaaskelainen stranded.

Bolton brought on Fabrice Fernandes in an attempt to restore some pride but the Frenchman just played out the rest of the game as Chelsea remained in firm control of the game.

Gudjohnsen nearly became the third player to get a brace in this contest but a Chelsea sixth goal was not forthcoming as the forward was in an offside position when converting a right wing cross by fellow substitute Carlton Cole.

It turned out to be a bad day at the office for the Wanderers in a game which was not helped by a sending off, a yellow card that should have been a sending off and the fact that Chelsea are the best team I have seen against Bolton in quite a few years and that goes even beyond the Arsenal side of a couple of years ago and the Manchester United dominence of the 1990's .

The Besiktas game and West Brom game will be vitally important as Bolton can ill afford to let the last two defeats fester in their minds. Still looking on the bright side the club remain in 7th place and are still on course to match the progress of the last two seasons.

Bolton Wanderers: Jussi Jaaskelainen, Tal Ben-Haim, Radhi Jaidi, Bruno N'Gotty, Henrik Pedersen (Ricardo Gardner), Kevin Nolan, Abdoulaye Diagne-Faye, Gary Speed (Hidetoshi Nakata), Stelios Giannakopoulos, Kevin Davies (Fabrice Fernandes), El-Hadji Diouf

Subs Not Used: Ian Walker, Jared Borgetti

Chelsea: Petr Cech, William Gallas, John Terry, Asier Del Horno (Eidur Gudjohnsen), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Carlton Cole), Claude Makelele, Frank Lampard, Mikael Essien, Joe Cole (Paulo Ferriera), Didier Drogba

Subs Not Used: Carlo Cudicini, Robert Huth

Referee:

Rob Styles

Attendance:

41,755

Booked:

Didier Drogba (Chelsea)

Mikael Essien (Chelsea)

Radhi Jaidi (Bolton)

Kevin Nolan (Bolton)

Sent Off

Ricardo Gardner (Bolton)