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Chelsea march on

15/10/2005

Chelsea have maintained their 100 per cent start to the season with a 5-1 thrashing of Bolton Wanderers.

A sparkling second half performance secured an emphatic victory for the defending champions, who trailed 1-0 to an early Stelios Giannokopoulos goal at the break.

Bolton rattled Chelsea early on, with Giannokopoulos given acres of room to fire home in the third minute as the Blues failed to find their rhythm. Michael Essien was fortunate to remain on the field after a wild tackle on Kevin Nolan.

However, Jose Mourinho signalled his attacking intent at half-time by bringing on Eidur Gudjohnsen for left-back Asier Del Horno and the move paid off as Chelsea scored four times in 11 minutes.

Didier Drogba levelled the game with a superb right-foot shot in the 51th minute, before Frank Lampard followed up his winning goal for England on Wednesday by giving the Blues the lead.

The influential midfielder added another with a free kick just four minutes later, after Bolton substitute Ricardo Gardner had been sent off for handball, before Drogba and Gudjohnsen rounded off the scoring.

The win means that Chelsea have now not lost a Premiership game for almost 12 months, with their last defeat away to Manchester City a year ago tomorrow.

They are now nine points clear of their nearest challengers, Tottenham, who won 2-0 at home to Everton this afternoon.

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