Bolton Wanderers v Chelsea FC
English Premier League
Reebok
Saturday, 31 October 2009
Kick-off: 1500 GMT
Chelsea and Bolton face off for the second time this week, this time in the Premier League.
Their previous meeting saw Chelsea dump Bolton out of the Carling Cup thanks to a 4-0 thumping, and Ancelotti will be hoping for more of the same from his table-topping team.
Bolton, another team to be brought down by swine flu – will be keen to reverse their midweek performance and build on last weekend’s home win against Everton by looking to at least take a point off Chelsea.
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Bolton Preview
Last week Bolton beat Everton 3-2 at home, taking their points tally to 7 points from their last four games. However the numbers aren’t in Bolton’s favour – they last beat Chelsea in the Premier League in 2003, they have gone 11 games since they last kept a clean sheet and they have also gone seven games since they last won at home.
Last season saw Chelsea keep a clean sheet at Bolton and Gary Megson would have worked hard between Wednesday and Saturday to ensure that his team learned from their mistakes midweek and prepare more effective defensive and offensive strategies against their visitors.
Bolton Wanderers (Probable, 4-1-4-1): Jaaskelainen; Ricketts, Cahill, Knight, Samuel; Muamba; Lee, Cohen, Gardner, Taylor; K Davies.
Chelsea Preview
Chelsea may have lost their last two away games but they go into this game having scored 13 goals in their last three matches without conceding a single goal – and with Frank Lampard finding his goal-scoring boots, it won’t get any easier for Bolton.
With Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United all dropping points, Chelsea will be looking to avoid any hangovers from their away defeats and start churning out wins with the consistency that saw them win back to back league titles under Mourinho.
The season could very well be decided, like last year, by the team that makes the least amount of mistakes, and at Chelsea they have the amount of experience and quality to cut out on all mistakes.
Chelsea (Probable, 4-4-2): Cech; Ivanovic, Carvalho, Terry, A Cole; Essien, Ballack, Lampard, J Cole; Anelka, Drogba.
Bolton v Chelsea Prediction
Bolton will be tighter and harder to beat at home than at Stamford Bridge, but they’re still not looking like any sort of threat to the Blues. Chelsea may not hit their free-scoring heights of midweek, but they will be able to wrap up this game without too much effort.
Prediction: Bolton 0-1 Chelsea
Bolton v Chelsea Betting
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Watch Bolton v Chelsea Live Online
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