BOLTON, England (AFP) - Michael Ballack headed home a first half winner as Chelsea maintained their relentless pursuit of Premiership leaders Manchester United with a 1-0 win at Bolton.
The German international notched his fourth goal of the season seconds before the break as Jose Mourinho's side showed Arsenal how to deal with Bolton on their own ground.Mourinho kept faith with the same side that earned a hard-fought point at arch-rivals United last weekend.
Counterpart Sam Allardyce, meanwhile, made one change with Ivan Campo replacing the injured Quinton Fortune as Bolton looked to follow-up their impressive destruction of Arsene Wenger's side last time out.
Chelsea, however, have happy memories of the Reebok, where they had not been beaten since 1997 and also clinched their Premiership title on the same ground in 2005.
Bolton have never been a team to care much about reputations, though and almost stunned Chelsea by taking the lead inside three minutes.
Nicky Hunt lobbed in a speculative cross which Carlo Cudicini failed to reach after slipping but Kevin Davies failed to hit the target with a free header from close range.
The home side were proving hard to break down as usual and it took Chelsea almost 20 minutes to threaten Jussi Jaaskelainen's goal but Frank Lampard's tame effort failed to trouble the Bolton goalkeeper.
Moments later Didier Drogba escaped the attentions of Abdoulaye Meite but saw his cross deflected across the face of Jaaskelainen's goal as the home side began to fade after a bright start.
Lampard tried his luck again within 60 seconds, lashing a dipping free kick from fully 40 yards that forced Jaaskelainen into an awkward save as the visitors began to build up some momentum.
Bolton continued to ride their luck, with Ricardo Carvalho heading Lampard's corner against the post before Michael Essien drilled the half clearance inches over the crossbar.
Claude Makelele had to produce a crucial challenge on El Hadji Diouf ten minutes before the break but it was Chelsea forcing the pace and creating the better chances.
Diouf while Tal Ben Haim was forced to head clear from underneath his own crossbar under pressure from John Terry.
Jaaskelainen produced a stunning save to keep out Andriy Shevchenko's powerful drive but Chelsea struck the killer blow right on half time when Ballack got ahead of Davies to meet Lampard's corner and direct a powerful header inside the near post and finally break the deadlock.
Jaaskelainen denied Lampard with another fine save as the England international looked to hand Chelsea a cushion.
The closest Bolton came to fashioning an equaliser was on 53 minutes when Nicolas Anelka just failed to reach Diouf's free kick when the slightest of touches would have seen Cudicini beaten.
Anelka also headed wide a sublime cross from Hunt four minutes later when he should have hit the target and Bolton's hopes of salvaging a point had gone.
The German international notched his fourth goal of the season seconds before the break as Jose Mourinho's side showed Arsenal how to deal with Bolton on their own ground.Mourinho kept faith with the same side that earned a hard-fought point at arch-rivals United last weekend.
Counterpart Sam Allardyce, meanwhile, made one change with Ivan Campo replacing the injured Quinton Fortune as Bolton looked to follow-up their impressive destruction of Arsene Wenger's side last time out.
Chelsea, however, have happy memories of the Reebok, where they had not been beaten since 1997 and also clinched their Premiership title on the same ground in 2005.
Bolton have never been a team to care much about reputations, though and almost stunned Chelsea by taking the lead inside three minutes.
Nicky Hunt lobbed in a speculative cross which Carlo Cudicini failed to reach after slipping but Kevin Davies failed to hit the target with a free header from close range.
The home side were proving hard to break down as usual and it took Chelsea almost 20 minutes to threaten Jussi Jaaskelainen's goal but Frank Lampard's tame effort failed to trouble the Bolton goalkeeper.
Moments later Didier Drogba escaped the attentions of Abdoulaye Meite but saw his cross deflected across the face of Jaaskelainen's goal as the home side began to fade after a bright start.
Lampard tried his luck again within 60 seconds, lashing a dipping free kick from fully 40 yards that forced Jaaskelainen into an awkward save as the visitors began to build up some momentum.
Bolton continued to ride their luck, with Ricardo Carvalho heading Lampard's corner against the post before Michael Essien drilled the half clearance inches over the crossbar.
Claude Makelele had to produce a crucial challenge on El Hadji Diouf ten minutes before the break but it was Chelsea forcing the pace and creating the better chances.
Diouf while Tal Ben Haim was forced to head clear from underneath his own crossbar under pressure from John Terry.
Jaaskelainen produced a stunning save to keep out Andriy Shevchenko's powerful drive but Chelsea struck the killer blow right on half time when Ballack got ahead of Davies to meet Lampard's corner and direct a powerful header inside the near post and finally break the deadlock.
Jaaskelainen denied Lampard with another fine save as the England international looked to hand Chelsea a cushion.
The closest Bolton came to fashioning an equaliser was on 53 minutes when Nicolas Anelka just failed to reach Diouf's free kick when the slightest of touches would have seen Cudicini beaten.
Anelka also headed wide a sublime cross from Hunt four minutes later when he should have hit the target and Bolton's hopes of salvaging a point had gone.
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