Bolton Wanderers vs. Chelsea - Match Preview

Bolton Wanderers welcome the in-form Chelsea to the Reebok Stadium for an early afternoon 1.30pm kick-off with the away side hoping to stick with the winning pack of the two Manchester clubs. Owen Coyle's men have really struggled to gel this season but they are of course too good a side to be in the position they are for too long and they will start winning games soon (they have a run of fixtures against Wigan, Sunderland, Swansea and Stoke which are much more important tests) but you can't imagine it will happen today. Andre Villas-Boas is finally starting to work out what works and what doesn't with his side and they are starting to play attractive football again but most importantly, they are winning and winning frequently. Juan Mata is proving to be a revelation in a forward thinking Messi role (boy are Arsenal ruing the day they missed out on that signing!) and Fernando Torres is at least being useful, if not quite the sharpshooter he was of seasons ago. But with Torres suspended today after his reckless tackle last week it might actually prove to be a positive that he won't be playing today and Villas-Boas can tinker with the wealth of striking options open to him. Team News; Will Villas-Boas put faith in Nicolas Anelka to play against his former team or will Didier Drogba make his first start for a month? Villas-Boas also needs to decide whether Frank Lampard will keep his place after scoring against Valencia mid-week. Plus there's Daniel Sturridge who Bolton know too well how dangerous he can be. On the injury front, Michael Essien remains a long term absentee and reserve goalkeeper Hilario is still a few weeks away from returning to the side. For Bolton, Owen Coyle will need to decide whether to keep faith with the shaky Jussi Jaaskelainen (who also has a knock on his leg and is a doubt) and whether forwards David N'Gog and Tuncay deserve a start having struggled to really gel. Midfielder Stuart Holden suffered a huge blow this week when he was diagnosed for another six months absence after a second knee injury op revealed cartilage damage. Huge losses today are David Wheater and Ivan Klasnic being ruled out with suspension, and on loan Gael Kakuta is ineligible to play for his parent club Chelsea. Line-ups; Bolton (from): Jaaskelainen, Steinsson, Cahill, Knight, Eagles, Robinson, Muamba, Reo-Coker, Petrov, K Davies, Tuncay, Bogdan, Gardner, M Davies, Pratley, Ngog, Blake. Chelsea (from): Cech, Ivanovic, Bosingwa, Alex, Ferreira, Terry, Luiz, Cole, Bertrand, McEachran, Mikel, Romeu, Ramires, Lampard, Meireles, Mata, Malouda, Drogba, Anelka, Sturridge, Lukaku, Kalou, Turnbul Prediction: 1-3 - Bolton will battle hard but Chelsea's attacking quality will ultimately be too strong for them.