Chelsea 4 – 0 Bolton Wanderers
League Cup, Fourth Round
Chelsea Give Wanderers The Blues
- Tuesday, Ocotber 28, 2009
- Venue: Stamford Bridge
- Attendance: 41,538
- Referee: Andre Marriner
- Salomon Kalou [15]
- Florent Malouda [26]
- Deco [67]
- Didier Drogba [89]
It was never going to be easy for The Wanderers to get a result at Stamford Bridge but who would have known that it was going to so easy for Chelsea.
Bolton boss, Gary Megson, had made a few changes to the side that eventually beat Everton last Saturday. The most notable change was that Ali Al-Habsi was chosen over Jussi Jaaskelainen to face that could have been easily predicted as a barrage of shots. It is almost as Megson had already resigned to the fact that Bolton’s cup run would be halted.
Chelsea goalkeeper Henrique Hilario had to be substituted halfway through the first half leaving Ross Turnbull in goal for the majority of the 90 minutes, but this had little affect on the game as Bolton rarely threatened to score.
Although Bolton Wanderers did manage a sizeable portion of the game’s possession (41%) what they did with it was mostly pitiful. Chelsea ruled much of the game and stroked the ball to and fro with ease — it was an impressive display of one touch passing. Chelsea only weakness was in regaining possession and careless tackles resulted in a number of free kicks. However, Bolton seemed content to squander many of these referee awarded opportunities, all too often hoofing the ball too close to Chelsea’s goalkeepers or even out of play.
To be fair, Bolton did have their chances but only three were memorable.
Gretar Steinsson’s free-kick shortly after Kalou’s goal found Matt Taylor but his shot was blocked by Hilario.
At half–time Steinsson was replaced by Johan Elmander whose smart pass to Mark Davies could have given The Wanderers a chance to get back into the game shortly after the restart. Unfortunately Elmander’s vision was not matched by Mark’s finishing, his shot was straight into the welcoming arms of Turnbull.
Up front for The Trotters, and often looking lonely, Ivan Klasnic failed to make an impact until it was too late to do so. Bolton were 3–0 down with just 10 minutes left when Klasnic fired a vicious shot which sadly hit the post. However, Chelsea found time for Drogba to score in the dying minutes of the match to preserve Chelsea’s run of unbeaten games at Stamford Bridge so far this season.
Chelsea travel to The Reebok Stadium this weekend and hopefully this hefty loss will inspire The Wanderers enough to give Chelsea’s third defeat of the season.
Too harsh? Would Jussi have made the difference? Share your opinions in the comments section below.
Official BWFC Match Report
Official CFC Match Report
