Unstoppable Chelsea thrash sorry Bolton

Chelsea 4 Bolton 0. It was case of Our Friends in the North at Stamford Bridge last night, as the second Lancashire team in the space of five days was dispatched by a handsome scoreline without any response. Carlo Ancelotti must surely feel that the collywobbles brought on by two consecutive away defeats in the Premier League are a distant memory, after Chelsea made it three home wins on the bounce in all competitions with 13 goals scored unopposed (in just a week too).

The Italian put out a mixture of first teamers and the squad fringe last night, but even in these more austere times in west London that still meant a starting line-up that boasted Paulo Ferreira, summer signing Daniel Sturridge, Joe Cole, looking increasingly impressive on his return from injury, German international Michael Ballack and Salomon Kalou. Bolton, facing the Blues in the first part of a double-header which concludes in the Premier League on Saturday, sent out something pretty close to their finest selection.

Joe Cole almost made for a spectacular start to the game, shooting from distance after just 15 seconds, and a Deco effort minutes later signalled Chelsea's intent to launch a blitzkrieg on the Trotters. Salomon Kalou broke through on the quarter-hour mark, nodding in a well-flighted Ferreira cross from the left for his third goal in just eight days.

There was concern for Ancelotti eight minutes later, when Portuguese keeper Hilario was unable to play on having fallen heavily while saving a shot from Matthew Taylor and had to be replaced by Ross Turnbull, but Florent Malouda soon doubled the host's advantage.

After a delightful interplay of passes between Kalou and Malouda, the Frenchman nailed the ball home from point-blank range. Bolton were floundering and were grateful that Kalou was unable to get the ball past Al Habsi when put through by Malouda again.

Half time saw the introduction of Johan Elmander for the visitors and he almost turned the game with his first significant contribution, laying on a ball that Mark Davies was unable to get past Turnbull in the Chelsea goal. From then on the traffic was one-way, as Daniel Sturridge had two chances to notch his debut goal for the Blues, both of which he fluffed.

Deco made no mistakes just after the hour mark when he control a cross from Joe Cole and clinically sent it past Al Habsi. Then Cole picked up another assist as substitute Didier Drogba towered over the Bolton defence and headed home the fourth.

Ancelotti was quietly pleased with an impressive performance, telling the BBC: "The team are working very well, maintaining good control defensively and offensively. This is the most important thing for the team, to have a balance." Gary Megson will be hoping that his side won't extend such Lancastrian generosity at the weekend. ·