Bolton Wanderers 0 Chelsea 4:IF CARLO Ancelotti really intends to win 13 of his last 16 Premier League games, to keep Chelsea in contention for the title, he is going to need Didier Drogba back to his best. He can only have been encouraged by the way his main striker set the tone for the first victory of the sequence here, putting his side in front with an unstoppable, 30-yard shot that must rank as one of the best goals the Ivorian has scored.

Drogba was jeered by the home crowd afterwards, mainly for a theatrical tumble to win a free-kick on the edge of the area, which was further evidence he is back to his old self. Ancelotti’s target may be an improbable one, but if a fully recovered Drogba can continue to score goals of such quality Chelsea may still have a chance.

When the game began, after an immaculate minute’s silence for Nat Lofthouse, Bolton created a chance within a couple of minutes. Johan Elmander helped on Martin Petrov’s cross from the left to find Kevin Davies in front of goal but the striker was unable to put enough power into his header to trouble Petr Cech.

Chelsea struck next and there was so much power in Drogba’s shot Jussi Jaaskelainen was beaten from 30 yards out despite having a clear view of the flight of the ball.

There appeared no particular danger when Gretar Steinsson was dispossessed by Florent Malouda on the Bolton right; as the ball broke to Drogba he turned inside, looked up at goal and let fly. Jaaskelainen was not badly positioned, not even far off his line, yet he could not prevent the ball going over his head and into the net.

Drogba shot straight at Jaaskelainen from a narrow angle a few minutes later and then saw Nicolas Anelka squander an even better opportunity, wanting too much time for a show after a perfectly placed through-ball had put him one on one with the goalkeeper.

Bolton managed their next threat on Cech’s goal after half an hour. Again Petrov was the provider, with an early cross from the left, and Matt Taylor’s header was creeping inside the upright before the diving Cech reached it with his fingertips to push it round.

An equaliser at that stage would have made the game interesting, but Bolton put themselves under a severe handicap by conceding a second four minutes from the interval, through sloppy defending. Owen Coyle will hardly know where to start when he begins his inquest.

First Paul Robinson conceded a needless corner after mistiming a header and not realising Anelka was behind him. Then Malouda’s corner was not properly cleared, and when the ball came back to the taker the France winger had a choice of targets to aim for from the byline. Gary Cahill managed to block his first attempt at a cross but then turned his back, and so was powerless to prevent Malouda collecting the rebound and successfully steering a low shot through a crowd of players and into the goal.

Bolton attempted to redress the damage before half-time but Cech was equal to Elmander’s close-range effort, even though he may not have known much about it.

Chelsea could have had even more as Bolton left themselves stretched in the second half but Michael Essien, unlike Drogba, does not appear to be back to his best and his distribution was at times wayward. Essien was involved in the third goal, however, a patient build-up on the left leading to a cross that Drogba nudged back for Anelka to score against his old club.

Bolton were only playing for pride after that, but Cech was obliged to make a smart save from Mark Davies after the substitute replaced Patrice Muamba and immediately made a run into the Chelsea penalty area.

The fourth arrived when Anelka had a shot blocked after Essien had crossed from the left and Ramires seized on the rebound for his first goal for the club.

BOLTON: Jaaskelainen, Steinsson, Cahill, Knight, Robinson, Petrov (Moreno 63), Muamba (Mark Davies 63), Holden (Blake 87), Taylor, Kevin Davies, Elmander. Subs not used: Bogdan, Ricketts, Cohen, Wheater.

CHELSEA: Cech, Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Terry, Cole, Essien, Ramires (Kalou 77), Mikel (McEachran 72), Anelka, Drogba, Malouda. Subs not used: Turnbull, Ferreira, Sturridge, Bruma, Kakuta.

Referee: Chris Foy (Merseyside).