Bolton v Chelsea

Bolton away matches have figured significantly in our recent history. May 1983 saw us travelling to Bolton looking for a victory to ease the threat of relegation: a defeat would’ve effectively sealed a drop to the old Division Three for the first time in our history. We won the match 1-0, eventually finishing in eighteenth place, two points above the relegation zone.

In October 1996, former vice-chairman Matthew Harding was killed in a helicopter crash returning from a League Cup tie at Bolton, a match we’d lost 2-1. At the time of his death, life-long Chelsea fan Harding had invested £26.5m of his own money in the club after an appeal by the then chairman Ken Bates for investment. Although his aim of buying the best players and building up a strong team brought him into conflict with Bates — who wanted to invest in infrastructure — Harding’s vision and passion formed a significant stepping stone on our path from the depths of the old Division Two to where we find ourselves today, at the pinnacle of English and European football.

April 2005, and Bolton away could once again feature significantly, this time for more joyous reasons: a win today would see us crowned Champions of England for only the second time in our hundred year history, fifty years after our last top flight title.

The fortunes of both clubs have improved greatly in the intervening twenty-two years. We’re now owned by one of the world’s richest men and managed by the world’s best coach, while Bolton’s current manager, Sam Allardyce, has worked minor miracles on a tight budget and found himself close to taking his team into Europe for the first time.

His industrious side are still in contention for a Champions League spot and proved in the reciprocal fixture at Stamford Bridge that they are hard to beat, coming from 2-0 down to earn a draw and become the first team of the season to score twice against us. Today’s game is sure to prove equally as tricky.

The players and manager have spoken of their desire to wrap up the Premiership this weekend, but surely the vast majority of them — and us, the fans — would accept a draw knowing that the Premiership could be won at the Bridge next weekend?

Bolton are a tough, physical side and, despite Everton’s protestations, Jose Mourinho is likely to rest a number of first team regulars in preparation for Tuesday’s massive Champions League tie against Liverpool.

Damien Duff is expected to be missing having failed a late fitness test on Wednesday, as is Arjen Robben, who featured as a substitute against Liverpool but is unlikely to be risked, whilst the likes of Didier Drogba, Eidur Gudjohnsen and a whole host of other first team regulars may well be left out as a precaution.

Mikael Forssell is sure to benefit and is likely to figure prominently. The Finnish international continued his rehabilitation from a serious knee injury by playing forty-five minutes for the reserves on Monday.

Mateja Kezman could also be given a much desired starting place. Earlier this week the Serbian international striker made it abundantly clear that he’s far from happy at Chelsea and is likely to look elsewhere at the end of the season, with a return to PSV Eindhoven on the cards.

Robert Huth may well feature and be instructed to do a job on Bolton’s Kevin Davies, who is always a significant threat in the air. Mourinho employed Huth in a similar role at Southampton, and the giant German marked Peter Crouch, another tall target striker with great aerial ability, out of the game.

Jiri Jarosik is another player in contention. The Cech international is cup-tied for the Champions League and put in a decent performance for the reserves earlier this week.

Score prediction: Despite being on the brink of history, within spitting distance of adding our name to those of Manchester United, Arsenal and Blackburn Rovers — the only previous winners of the Premier League trophy — something in me says we’ll only draw. Bolton will make life difficult and this is a contest that is sure to be draining. Mourinho will not want to risk injury to any player knowing that we have a further three games to tie up the title and a huge European game against Liverpool on Tuesday. 1-1… Saying that, Forssell or Kezman will probably go and score a hat-trick.

Don’t expect any updates until sometime tomorrow if we do win!

Related links:

• Fans plan a tribute to Harding
• Allardyce comes to Mourinho’s defence
• Chelsea plan for life after the coronation
• Robben reluctant to play
• Chelsea ready to take a rest

Bolton 0 - 2 Chelsea · Match Reports

Slowly recovering from a great day/evening. Updates will be sporadic today (Sunday) for obvious reasons!

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The Guardian, BBC Sport, ESPNSoccernet, Sporting Life, Sky Sports, Official Chelsea FC Website, ITV Football, Independent on Sunday, Sunday Telegraph, Sunday Times, The Independent.

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