Chelsea v Bolton Wanderers,
Barclays Premier League,
Saturday 11 April 2009,
Stamford Bridge, 3pm Kick-off.

Wanderers travel to Stamford Bridge hoping to continue an impressive run of form on Chelsea's home patch after denting the West London side's title challenge on the final day of last season with a well deserved draw.

Bolton go into the game with optimism, hoping to build on an emphatic 4-1 victory over Middlesbrough and 
the Whites will be looking to avenge their 2-0 home defeat at the start of December when Nicolas Anelka returned to the Reebok for the first time since his £15million move to the Blues in January 2008, and he duly opened the scoring. 



Portuguese midfielder Deco completed the victory for a side that has since dispensed with the services of manager Felipe Scolari and appointed Dutch tactician Guus Hiddink until the end of the season. 

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Chelsea beat Newcastle 2-0 last time out to ruin Alan Shearer's first home game in charge of the Toon Army.

Bolton will be aiming to be the first team from outside the top four to beat Chelsea away.

They have only tasted defeat once out of their last five visits to Stamford Bridge, the highlight coming in 2003 when they snatched a 2-1 victory with a late John Terry own goal.

Team News

Manager Gary Megson confirmed that Bolton only have long-term absentees Mark Davies and Joey O' Brien unavailable.





Opposition Key Player - Frank Lampard



Lampard has been a key fixture in a successful Chelsea team he joined from West Ham in 2001 for a fee in the region of £11. Since then he has become a pivotal figure in the side which won two Premier League titles, one FA Cup, two League Cups as well as reaching last year's Champions League final, in which Lampard scored. 



The Chelsea star started his career as a product of the lauded West ham academy as a young central midfielder, where he scored 24 league goals in 132 games. His move to Chelsea started a transformation that turned him into an attacking midfielder who is a firm fans favourite at The Bridge.

He has scored 126 goals in 392 games which is an incredible return for a midfielder. This season he has managed to bag 16 goals in all competitions including a close range header against Newcastle last time out.

Lampard is now the vice-captain of the club 

He also has a record of 15 goals in 69 International appearances. Perhaps the highest individual honour was when he was voted runner-up in the 2005 FIFA World Player of the Year award to Ronaldinho.



Opposition Manager - Guus Hiddink

Guus Hiddink started his career as a midfield player in the Dutch leagues with De Graafschap and following an unsuccessful spell at PSV Eindhoven he returned to his first club. Spells in America with Washington Diplomats and San Jose Earthquakes were followed by a return back to his native Holland with NEC.Hiddink then finished his playing career where he started it at De Graafschap.

He has had a vibrant managerial career spanning seven countries and three continents. He started his rise to the top at De Graafschap before moving to PSV where he possibly got his finest achievement - winning the European Cup in 1988.

Hiddink had spells at Fenerbahce and Valencia before his country came calling and he took over the job as manager of the Holland national side. His best effort as Holland boss was to guide his side to the 1998 World Cup semi-finals where they were beaten by on penalties by Brazil.

The Dutchman had a few short spells at Real Madrid and Real Betis before taking over the reins at 2002 World Cup hosts South Korea. Remarkably Hiddink guided his side to the semi-finals where they were eventually knocked out by Germany.

After another successful spell at PSV, Hiddink took another international position at Australia where he led the team to the second round of the World Cup for the first time in their history. In 2006 he took charge of the Russian national team and guided them to the semi-finals of Euro 2008. He is still the manager of Russia, combining the job with his role at Chelsea, where he has a contract until the end of the season.



Listen Live
If you can't make it to Stamford Bridge on Saturday afternoon, you can listen to live uninterrupted commentary on Wanderers World with the club's official commentator Phil Gittins and club journalist Robert Urbani. The broadcast starts at 2.30pm.

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By Dean McAfee