SOCCER:CHELSEA WILL be looking for a first away victory since October at Bolton Wanderers on Monday with concerns persisting over the involvement of Frank Lampard and John Terry for the awkward trip to the Reebok Stadium.

The success of the champions’ campaign could depend upon a quick revival of their form on their travels, with five of their next six matches away from Stamford Bridge.

Bolton begin that sequence with the unwelcome doubts over their influential England pair, leaving Carlo Ancelotti and his medical team to assess the duo over the weekend.

Lampard has suffered a slight calf complaint, with Terry having taken a knock to his troublesome back in training. There are no suggestions it is a recurrence of the sciatic nerve complaint that saw the Chelsea captain play in pain on occasion this season.

Chelsea will feel they need both players fit and focused if they are to prevail. Chelsea may have won on every visit to the Reebok Stadium since Roman Abramovich bought the club, but Owen Coyle’s side tested them severely at Stamford Bridge last month and will be buoyed by the fact Ancelotti’s side have now gone seven away games without a win in all competitions.

“We didn’t achieve good results away from home, I know this,” said the Italian. “We haven’t been able to win away since October, and this is the reason we’ve lost our position (at the top of) the table. I really don’t think it’s a question of the players lacking belief. We don’t change our philosophy away from home.

“The players haven’t lost belief to play away. The players are fitter and training with more confidence. But, obviously, it’s about results.”

Meanwhile, Avram Grant has warned that “time is running out” for him to sign the players he feels will be vital if West Ham United are to avoid relegation.

Nine days are left before the transfer window closes but West Ham have so far signed only Wayne Bridge, a left-back, on loan from Manchester City. Grant, who says that speculation regarding his job should be forgotten, now wants a creative midfielder and a striker to augment his efforts to pull the team towards safety.

“Time is running out,” the manager said. “I wanted to do deals before, but we faced some difficulties. We have 10 days and we want to use these to make the team stronger. I don’t want to be faced again with a squad like we were before Arsenal (a 3-0 loss) and other games, because now we can change it. It’s not good, not for us and the players – it’s not fair.”

In the absence of the injured Scott Parker last Saturday, the manager started with a midfield of Jonathan Spector, Freddie Sears, Mark Noble and Radoslav Kovac before an early injury to the Czech forced him to play Luis Boa Morte in an unfamiliar central position.

Grant is being careful not to criticise the West Ham board after the club approached Martin O’Neill to take over as manager last week. Asked if potential deals had stalled or been blocked because players were unsure who would be in charge if they signed for the club, he said: “You would need to ask the other players, but I can tell you that in the club we are dealing with this all the time.”

Jamie O’Hara and Joe Cole are among those Grant would like to buy to fill the creative-midfield berth while Robbie Keane and Hoffenheim’s Demba Ba head his list of strikers.

Parker has recovered from an ankle injury and will start at Everton.