Lampard was the Chelsea kingpin at the Reebok Stadium a year ago when the Blues lifted their first top flight title in half a century and his performance and goal today were of very similar top drawer quality.

The former West Ham man cooly finished off a fine team move on the hour mark after striker Hernan Crespo had unselfishly held up a midfield splitting pass down the left flank to edge the Blues nearer to retaining their Premiership crown.

Out of form Bolton had started the game off very well and moved the ball around the park with some purpose and precision following Sam Allardyce's decision to make a number of changes to the side which lost to Liverpool six days ago.

However, despite the hosts having the bulk of the early possession it was Chelsea who had recorded the first meaningful attempt of the game on 14 minutes when Lampard's deflected free kick sailed just wide of Jussi Jaaskelainen's left post.

The Premiership holders delivered another goal threat some seven minutes later but the deadly South American front man Crespo was unable to get his head to a fine curling right wing cross by versatile defender William Gallas.

Wanderers had arguably the best and most clear cut chance of the first half by far when on 22 minutes youngster Ricardo Vaz-Te saw his shot into the ground come back off the base of the post following a clever exchange of passes with team mate Jared Borgetti.

Both sides played some neat passing football midway through the opening half and it is fair to say that Bolton did not look like a side that was currently short on confidence as they tried very hard to match their West London visitors.

Spanish star Ivan Campo was playing a key role in the heart of the Wanderers midfield on his return to first team action but it was opponent Lampard who began to make his mark on the game as the first period drew ever nearer to its conclusion.

Trotters skipper Kevin Nolan fired the ball marginally over the crossbar of Chelsea keeper Petr Cech just after the clock passed half hour but it was to be Lampard who would deliver the killer blow with a minute of the half remaining.

Campo had needlessly given away a foul in his own half and Lampard immediately stepped up to deliver a deep free kick from the left into the area which John Terry headed past Jaaskelainen to put Chelsea into the lead.

The timing of the goal was slightly harsh on the Wanderers going into the interval as they had given a good account of themselves in front of a capacity crowd.

Bolton made the bold and unusual step of introducing Henrik Pedersen and top scorer Stelios Giannakopoulos at the start of the second half in place of Jared Borgetti and Ricardo Vaz-Te and this nearly paid dividens straightaway as Giannakopoulos raged down the right hand side to win his side a corner.

Fellow substitute Pedersen fired over the Chelsea crossbar on 55 minutes having been caught in two minds as to which foot to volley the ball with after it fell kindly to him in the area.

Sadly for the Wanderers just five minutes later the game was to be all but sewn up as Chelsea started and finished a fine team move which began right on the halfway line. Crespo held the ball well before slipping it across to Lampard who fired into the roof of the net past Jaaskelainen.

The Trotters enthusiasm had by now waned and the Blues could have so easily grabbed a third goal but for Jaaskelainen's brave save when faced with a one on one situation with Dutch international winger Arjen Robben.

Chelsea began to dominate the possession and they sensed that a third consecutive 2-0 victory at the Reebok Stadium was in the offing, Bolton on the other hand where demoralised that their earlier efforts had come beared little fruit.

Referee Phil Dowd made the Wanderers afternoon go even worse when he applied the letter of the law to send off Israeli defender Tal Ben-Haim for a clumsy second bookable offence on the stroke of full time.

Bolton have a chance to come back from this crushing defeat fairly quickly as they face an Easter Monday night trip to relegation threatened West Bromwich Albion.

Bolton Wanderers: Jussi Jaaskelainen, Tal Ben-Haim, Abdoulaye Faye, Bruno N'Gotty, Ricardo Gardner, Kevin Nolan, Ivan Campo, Gary Speed (Hidetoshi Nakata), Ricardo Vaz-Te (Stelios Giannakopoulos), Jared Borgetti (Henrik Pedersen), Kevin Davies

Subs Not Used: Ian Walker, Jay-Jay Okocha

Chelsea: Petr Cech, Geremi, William Gallas, John Terry, Asier Del Horno, Mikael Essien, Claude Makelele, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole (Paulo Ferreira), Hernan Crespo (Arjen Robben), Didier Drogba (Robert Huth)

Subs Not Used: Carlo Cudicini, Shaun Wright-Phillips

Referee:

Phil Dowd

Attendance:

27,266

Booked:

Ricardo Gardner (Bolton)

Claude Makelele (Chelsea)

Kevin Davies (Bolton)

Didier Drogba (Chelsea)

Tal Ben-Haim (Bolton)

Robert Huth (Chelsea)

Sent Off:

Tal Ben-Haim (Bolton)

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