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PRE-MATCH BRIEFING: CHELSEA V BOLTON WANDERERS

It may be the third home game in eight days but this Carling Cup match is a sell-out. Club historian Rick Glanvill and club statistician Paul Dutton prepare the background for Bolton's visit.

TALKING POINTS
Chelsea and Bolton meet at StamfordBridge for only the second time ever in this competition. The Blues will naturally be buoyed by the nature of the win over the visitors' Lancastrian rivals as much as the 5-0 - which made it nine goals in four days on the Fulham Road.
The less pressured League Cup gives Carlo Ancelotti the chance to provide more playing minutes for less regular starters in the squad, as well as the likes of defender Jeffrey Bruma, who looked so assured for 17-year-old when he came on as a sub on Saturday.
KEY STAT
The Blues are aiming for a tenth successive victory at StamfordBridge in all competitions and are chasing our club record 11, set in 2006.

However, there is the fortress reputation of the Bridge to defend, and a nice piece of silverware at the end of February to aspire to. Although Bolton are 13 points and 11 Barclays Premier League places behind Chelsea, in knockout competitions nothing can be taken for granted.
Spice is added to this fixture by the fact that the two sides meet again this weekend on Bolton's patch - with Chelsea aiming to avoid a third away league defeat on the spin.
In the League Cup the Trotters fielded virtually a full-strength team for the previous round's home tie with West Ham, and may well make just a few changes for the trip to SW6 following last Sunday's morale-boosting home win over Everton.
Heavily criticised by his own supporters, manager Gary Megson has repeated his mantra that results are more important than performances. His side have now lost just one in seven in all competitions, and he says he is keen to do well in this tournament.
Last season he steered Bolton to the last 16 of the Uefa Cup, beating Chelsea's recent guests Atlético 1-0 en route (pictured below). However, in a display of his true values, having drawn 1-1 at home with Braga, Megson took a reserve team to Portugal ahead of a vital Premier League match against Wigan - and went out of Europe.

Although some star names may be absent from the team sheets, Chelsea's commendable ticket-pricing policy has guaranteed a full-house - especially during school half-term - and there should be a great atmosphere with a place in the quarter-finals at stake.
The last time Chelsea and Bolton locked horns in the League Cup was in October 1996. The match was overshadowed the next day with the news that Matthew Harding had died in a helicopter crash on the way back from the match.
There will definitely be a result tonight. Should the scores be level after 90 minutes, 30 minutes extra time will be played. If there is still no winner the tie will be decided on penalties.
The draw for the fifth round is on Saturday.
The following five teams are already through to the quarter-final having won last night: Man Utd, Portsmouth, Aston Villa, Blackburn and Tottenham.

Other Carling Cup fixtures tonight
Arsenal v Liverpool 7.45pm
ManCity v Scunthorpe 7.45pm


This post first appeared on CHELSEA F.C, please read the originial post: here

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PRE-MATCH BRIEFING: CHELSEA V BOLTON WANDERERS

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