Carling Cup - Chelsea rout poor Bolton

Eurosport - Wed, 28 Oct 21:40:00 2009

Chelsea secured easy passage into the quarter-finals of the Carling Cup with a 4-0 win over Bolton at Stamford Bridge.

FOOTBALL Carling Cup Salomon Kalou and Michael Ballack celebrate a goal against Bolton at Chelsea's Stamford Bridge - 0

Carlo Ancelotti's men were always in control against a side who lacked the quality and defensive nous to deal with the home side's power and guile.

Salomon Kalou and Florent Malouda struck in the first half and, as Bolton rallied, Deco and Didier Drogba extended the lead beyond doubt with counter-attacking strikes.

A first XI including Michael Ballack, Deco, Malouda, Kalou, Joe Cole and Alex can hardly be described as second-string but it was weakened by the Premier League leaders' high standards.

After initially struggling to find their rhythm, the Blues dominated and took a 14th-minute lead when Paulo Ferreira got forward from left-back and swung over an inch-perfect cross that Kalou nodded into the bottom right corner after getting clear of Gary Cahill and Zat Knight.

The Trotters could have equalised immediately from the kick-off but Hilario made a brave stop at the feet of Matt Taylor after Juliano Belletti missed Gretar Steinsson's cross.

His bravery was rewarded with a knock that forced the Portuguese back-up keeper off soon afterwards, but Chelsea doubled their lead by the 26th-minute mark when, after good work from Kalou and Malouda saw the Ivorian's cross mis-headed by Malouda, a lucky ricochet off Knight dropped to the former Lyon winger, who rammed the ball past Ali Al-Habsi.

The Omani keeper, standing in for Jussi Jaaskelainen, made a spectacular save five minutes before the break when Kalou ran clean through.

There was little change in the second half, although the introduction of Sweden striker Johan Elmander by Bolton boss Gary Megson gave the visitors more of a presence up front that they lacked without the rested Kevin Davies.

They still missed a cutting edge though and, despite some good possession, were unable to capitalise on decent chances for Mark Davies and Ricardo Gardner.

Chelsea, meanwhile, made some changes of their own by bringing on Michael Essien and Drogba, as if to highlight the different resources between title-challengers and mid-table sides.

They played deep and on the break, with Daniel Sturridge putting two gilt-edged chances wide before he was replaced by Drogba.

The Blues added to their lead midway through the second half, thanks to another break that ended with the impressive Cole angling a low pass to the unmarked Deco, who carefully placed a low shot into the bottom left corner.

They were cruising from that point on, with Cole and Deco going close, although Bolton had a couple of chances to grab a consolation from free-kicks when Knight headed straight at stand-in keeper Ross Turnbull one time and put wide the second from a similar position.

Ivan Klasnic was unfortunate to have a late finish rebound clear after he worked a shooting opportunity with a sublime first touch.

Minutes later it was 4-0 to the hosts, when Drogba capitalised on hesitant keeping by Al-Habsi to power Cole's cross in off the ground with a minute of normal time remaining.

Chelsea have now scored 13 goals in their last three games without conceding, although they face a return trip to the Reebok as the sides meet in the Premier League this weekend.

Reda Maher / Eurosport

Comment 15 - 34 of 34

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  1. There good but i still think they can improve more as­ the season goes on and hopefully we will be aloud to­ bring in aguero in january cause the players like kalou­ and drogba who are scoring goals for us at the mo wont­ be there ,, i think we need 1 more central midfielder­ aswell , maybe try get someone on loan for the rest of­ the season just as cover... but beside,s talkin bout­ wat i think needs to be done i cant wait till they take­ on united , all you united fans wait and see haha u­ will be hammerd !!!!

    From flynnthomas40, on Thu 29 Oct 9:05PM

  2. All we want is good results no matter who is use or­ what competition it is .Thanks Aceloti an the boys of­ chelsea.You guys are doing a good job this season keep­ it up

    From Bennetha, on Thu 29 Oct 7:31PM
  3. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    I dont understand why players like Drogba were­ introduced even when Chelsea were already on top of the­ game? I think that shows a lack of class!
    Comment 22 I­ actually saw Essien in that team, so maybe u should­ cross-check!

    From JOKPA, on Thu 29 Oct 6:43PM

  4. . . . . and that was without Cech, Bosingwa, Carvalho,­ JT, Ash, Mikel, Lampard, Essien, Zhirkov, Anelka and­ Drogs in the starting line up

    From Graham, on Thu 29 Oct 5:34PM

  5. Peter i shall answer ur stupid question in another 50­ years or so and by then i don't think ull need an­ answer......5 years and no trophy......hahaha.......and­ ur not winning any this year too.....keep playing with­ the kids in Carling Cup and the whinging Wenger boys in­ the league.....u faced Roma and Villarreal last year in­ the Champions League and thought u were gonna win it???­ ManU gave u a good lesson at home and if i remember­ correctly....Chelsea thrashed u 4-1 at home.......now­ thats shameful......stick ur head back up ur backside­ dogg!

    From Rushad, on Thu 29 Oct 4:46PM

  6. Mikel is injured, back in a week or two.

    From roy, on Thu 29 Oct 4:36PM
  7. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    chelsea is @#$%. so is ancelloti, drogba, stamford and­ even stinkier are the @#$% fans.

    From kundai, on Thu 29 Oct 4:20PM

  8. where is mikel? can someone pls tell me,that young man­ has been missing a lot of match now pls let us know.i­ like the guy very much. man.united fans

    From oyedeji, on Thu 29 Oct 3:34PM

  9. its just a gme larr

    From chrisvj2456, on Thu 29 Oct 2:50PM

  10. its just a gme larr

    From chrisvj2456, on Thu 29 Oct 2:50PM

  11. i think it is the highest time any of the chelsea­ opponents got worried of where most of the trophies are­ headed to this season if not west london (stanford­ bridge). I want to keep hailing the blues for their­ brilliant performance at the moment. they are really a­ nice team to watch playing and be a fan for.Long live­ anceloti, long live the Blues. NGIRO WALTER VIDORY.

    From ngirolter, on Thu 29 Oct 2:45PM

  12. i think it is the highest time any of the chelsea­ opponents got worried of where most of the trophies are­ headed to this season if not west london (stanford­ bridge). I want to keep hailing the blues for their­ brilliant performance at the moment. they are really a­ nice team to watch playing and be a fan for.Long live­ anceloti, long live the Blues. NGIRO WALTER VIDORY.

    From ngirolter, on Thu 29 Oct 2:44PM
  13. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Just heard a great place : Bigtalls CO M , we can find­ any types friends you want to meet, please have a­ try...

    From Rebort, on Thu 29 Oct 2:31PM
  14. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    I dont know why a club that spent fifty years without a­ trophy,a club that has lifted the premiere league for­ just three time and without a history in the champions­ league should be regarded as great...........go to your­ dictionary and arsenal website you loud mouths and­ look for the meaning of great. Arsenal for­ lifeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee............................­ ..................up the immortals

    From Peter, on Thu 29 Oct 2:08PM

  15. some ppl may think chelsea were using the 1st team­­ players.
    u are wrong!! look carefully, no a.cole,­­ lampard, terry, carval, essien, drogba (sub),­ bosingwa,­ anelka.......
    chelsea have no 2nd team but 2­ 1st­ team!!!!
    up the­­ blues!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ ­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    From chelsea_nkl, on Thu 29 Oct 1:39PM

  16. the rampant chelsea, who can withstand the power of the­ mighty chelsea.superb play,we are proud of chelsea.

    From sir.clinton, on Thu 29 Oct 12:55PM

  17. Chelsea will beat bolton and manu in next two games and­ will go out of reach

    From classi420, on Thu 29 Oct 11:56AM

  18. that should shut a few gobs'you gotta be in it to­ win it,lets carry on the good work
    on­ saturday,there's some that say the sqaud is ageing­ but like a good whiskey,it just
    gets better with­ age..CFC FOREVER FOREVER CFC...

    From waltjabasco, on Thu 29 Oct 11:52AM

  19. I'm not a Chelsea fan but they are playing really­ well at the moment. Its going to take a hell of a­ performance by the opposing team to beat them.

    From Andrew, on Thu 29 Oct 9:05AM

  20. Go chelsea...... Stay Blues to win all the title!!!

    From adrian, on Thu 29 Oct 8:38AM
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