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Bolton Wanderers 0. Chelsea 1.

Kalou Goal Downs Bolton
By Mark Heys October 7 2007
Bolton Wanderers put in a performance to match Chelsea this afternoon but they could not take their chances and where therefore punished shortly before half time when lone striker Salomon Kalou netted the only goal of the game at the Reebok Stadium.

Sammy Lee made a number of bold changes to his Bolton line up with young midfielder Danny Guthrie keeping his place following an encouraging performance against FK Rabotnicki on Thursday which saw the strugglers go five games unbeaten.

The hosts defensive line up reverted back to a more usual feel with Joey O'Brien, Andy O'Brien, Abdoulaye Meite and Ricardo Gardner forming the Bolton rearguard for the day.

Chelsea included England duo Frank Lampard and John Terry in their line up, whilst former Bolton defender Tal Ben-Haim encountered a frosty reception from the home support as he sat amongst the visitors substitutes.

Blues manager Avram Grant played Saloman Kalou as the lone striker in the absence of the suspended Didier Drogba with the likes of Joe Cole just behind in a supporting role ahead of a packed midfield.

Wanderers began the first half in the unusual position of attacking towards the Family Stand after Chelsea skipper Terry had opted to play towards the couple thousand fans who had made the trip from London.

Bolton had one or two opportunities in the opening ten minutes but it was Chelsea who threatened to catch them off guard within the opening sixty seconds when winger Florent Malouda headed Joe Cole's centre into the path of Jussi Jaaskelainen in the Bolton goal.

Kevin Davies, named Bolton skipper for the second game in succession due to the absence of Kevin Nolan and Gary Speed, was using his aeriel ability to good effect in the early exchanges and he nearly teed up Guthrie only for the on-loan youngster to hit his volleyed effort off target.

Davies himself nearly got in a goalscoring position on six minutes but he fired a powerful shot from just inside the area straight at the legs of Chelsea custodian Petr Cech.

Twelve minutes later the visitors nearly struck lucky when Lampard's shot from the edge of the area came back off the chest of Jaaskelainen but  Abdoulaye Meite was on hand to clear the resulting loose ball.

Eventual goalscorer Kalou should have given Chelsea the lead on 21 minutes but the Ivorian made a mess of his shot after being put through by the excellent Claude Makelele.

A few minutes later it was Kalou's turn to be the provider when laying off Florent Malouda but the former Lyon player was denied expertly by Jaaskelainen who made a world class save at his left hand post.

Just before the half hour it was Bolton's turn to sting the fingertips of Petr Cech in the Chelsea goal when Ivan Campo unleashed a thunderbolt of an effort after El-Hadji Diouf had shown some good work down the right to tee up the Spaniard.

The lively Guthrie fed Anelka en-route to the visitors goal but the French ace was unable to bag his third Bolton goal in a week and seventh for the season so far as a whole.

Chelsea took the lead on 41 minutes and it was somewhat harsh on Bolton as they had given a good account of themselves against a side who is regularly challenging for the title.

Cech saw his long punt upfield met by Malouda and the winger's flick on found Kalou who took full advantage of a lack of communication from Meite and his goalkeeper Jaaskelainen.

Meite tried to put Kalou off at the last moment but the 23-year old fired home an angled shot through the gap for his second goal in as many games when coming up against the Trotters.

The games major talking point came just a minute or so after the goal when referee Alan Wiley denied Bolton a cast iron penalty after Steve Sidwell appeared to outstretch his hand in the area when defending a right wing cross.

After the re-start it was Bolton who drew first blood with Davies accurate cross from the right hand flank just that little bit too long for fellow striker Diouf to get enough power behind his effort which was gathered by Cech.

Former Reading man Sidwell was once again at the centre of some handball controversy later in the second period but this time referee Wiley penalised the flame haired midfielder.

Sidwell blocked the ball with his hand with just fifteen minutes remaining but Bolton where unable to capitalise on the resulting free kick with Anelka firing high and over.

Joe Cole fired straight at Jaaskelainen prior to being substituted and there was drama at the other end of the field when substitute Stelios Giannakopoulos saw his headed effort from Anelka's chip clip the top of the crossbar.

Wanderers keeper Jaaskelainen had come out of his goal to try and find the elusive equaliser but the Finn was nearly caught out of his goal but for him doing some defensive heroics on Ashley Cole which duly earned him a caution.

Bolton now have the international weekend in which to regroup and this will be followed by a difficult away trip against Arsene Wenger's Arsenal team at the Emirates Stadium.

BOLTON WANDERERS: Jussi Jaaskelainen, Joey O'Brien (Stelios Giannakopoulos), Andy O'Brien, Abdoulaye Meite, Ricardo Gardner, Gavin McCann, Ivan Campo, Danny Guthrie, Kevin Davies, Nicolas Anelka, El-Hadji Diouf (Christian Wilhelmsson).

SUBS NOT USED: Gerald Cid, Daniel Braaten, Ali Al-Habsi (GK)

CHELSEA: Petr Cech, Juliano Beletti, Ricardo Carvalho, John Terry, Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard, Steve Sidwell, Claude Makelele, Florent Malouda (Andrij Shevchenko), Joe Cole (Paulo Ferriera), Saloman Kalou (Claudio Pizarro)

SUBS NOT USED: Tal Ben-Haim, Carlo Cudicini (GK)

ATTENDANCE:

20,059

REFEREE:

Alan Wiley

BOOKED:

Campo (Bolton)

Diouf (Bolton)

McCann (Bolton)

Carvalho (Chelsea)

Davies (Bolton)

Jaaskelainen (Bolton)

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