EPL: Chelsea vs. Bolton

Chelsea celebrate David Luiz's opening goal. (AP Images)

Chelsea needs to win, period. Andre Villas Boas needs to win, period. A loss or even a draw at home against Bolton after the embarrassing Champions League performance in Italy might well have spelled the doom for the first year Chelsea skipper. Fortunately for him, it turned out that a visit from Bolton was just what the Blues needed.

Not that the first half was terribly impressive though. Chelsea started brightly in the opening minutes. Daniel Sturridge forced two saves from Adam Bogdan in the first five minutes. A little after that Frank Lampard made a great run into the box and seemed to be through on goal, but couldn't get his shot away.

After that the first half was all about half chances, and even calling them half chances might be on the generous side. Both Sturridge and Didier Drogba were active, but Bolton's defense held up well enough. For the Wanderer's part, their chances were few and far between. Darren Pratley went down on the edge of the area in the 42nd minute, but instead of a PK or free kick, he was given a yellow card for diving. Right before the stroke of half time Ryo Miyaichi sent a shot high, which was the sum of the Bolton offense.

Chelsea came out in a bit different spirit in the second half and set out to secure the three points. In the 48th minute, David Luiz took a nice solo strike from just inside the area and slammed it past Bogdan to make it 1-0. Luiz would have another good chance in the 55th minute, but saw his header hit the post following a corner kick.

The Blues added their second in the 61st minute, this time off the head of Didier Drogba. The Ivorian striker got a head to a Lampard corner kick and tucked it into the unprotected far post to make it 2-0. Super Frank Lampard added a goal for himself in the 79th minute by knocking home a Juan Mata cross to make the score 3-0. Bolton couldn't even manage to trouble Petr Cech, and 3-0 was the score at full time. It was a comfortable win for the Blues, and hopefully they can build on it.