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Andre Villas-Boas faces the arduous task of preparing his fractured Chelsea side for Saturday's visit of Bolton as the club is still reeling from the 3-1 loss to Napoli in the Champions League on Tuesday. Relegation-threatened Bolton are unlikely to offer stern resistance at Stamford Bridge, but without a victory in four Premier League games the Blues can ill afford another slip-up. Chelsea hammered five past Bolton at the Reebok earlier in the season in what was their 7th successive victory against the Trotters. In fact, Bolton have taken three points off Chelsea only once in the last decade, back in 2003 and have since drawn three and lost 16 of the meetings with the London giants.

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Chelsea

The Champions League tie against Napoli was always going to determine the fate of Villas-Boas and the nature of the defeat in Naples has shocked the club's hierarchy. The manager decided to make a statement by leaving out Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole and Michael Essien, a decision that didn't go down well with the player's lobby at the club. Villas-Boas' would have been vindicated had Chelsea actually held on to the lead, but staying in tune with their season so far, abject defending saw them succumb to defeat. In John Terry's continued absence, the entire back four crumbled in the face of quality attacking opposition. Though the 3-1 defeat wasn't as bad as Arsenal's 4-0 loss at Milan the previous week, it was a body blow for an already fragile squad.

Roman Abramovich has repeatedly backed his Portuguese manager to re-build the squad, but there are serious questions about the actual progress being made by Chelsea. Their midfield is filled with runners in the form of Raul Meireles, Ramires and Essien and the lack of a defensive shield in the mould of Claude Makelele has left them exposed. Lampard, despite being the club's joint-top scorer with 11 goals, has clearly been regressing as old age catches up with him. The Fernando Torres conundrum is bound to baffle any manager while Drogba has also been a shadow of himself; with Daniel Sturridge and Juan Mata the only real star performers.

Champions League football is vital to clubs in the current economic climate as the cash-flow from their European appearance is central to their budget. Chelsea currently sit in 5th place, level on points with Arsenal in 4th and behind only on goals scored. Newcastle and Liverpool are also breathing down the necks of the two beleaguered London clubs in the fight for the last Champions League spot. With Arsenal playing Tottenham and Liverpool in the next two games, Chelsea have a great chance to get back into the Top Four.

Bolton

Owen Coyle's outfit, like most in the bottom reaches of the league, have struggled for consistency this season. Since shocking Liverpool 3-1 in late January, Bolton haven't won a single Premier League game, with a record of two loses and a draw from their last three games. The point against Arsenal was a bonus, but the damaging defeat to Wigan last time around has left them bang in the middle of the relegation battle. Bolton are in 19th spot now, a point clear of Wigan below them. But more importantly, only two points cover five teams, from QPR in 16th to Wigan at the bottom.

There were some positive vibes around the club last week as they progressed into the quarter-finals of the FA Cup at the expense of Millwall. Ryo Miyaichi, on-loan from Arsenal, impressed in the 2-0 victory as did new recruit Tim Ream, who looked comfortable at the back. Bolton will now face either Stevenage or Tottenham in the last 8. They made a similar deep run in the FA Cup last season and were a step away from the final, when Stoke handed them a thrashing. They never recovered from that for the rest of the season as they went into free-fall. Their record this season indicates that they haven't changed a great deal since, but with the teams so close to each other at the bottom, they will be confident of avoiding the drop.

Head-to-Head:

2nd Oct, 2011: Bolton 1-5 Chelsea
24th Jan, 2011: Bolton 0-4 Chelsea

Form Guide:

Chelsea:LDLDD

21st Feb, 2012: Napoli 3-1 Chelsea (UCL)
18th Feb, 2012: Chelsea 1-1 Birmingham (FA Cup)
11th Feb, 2012: Everton 2-0 Chelsea
6th Feb, 2012: Chelsea 3-3 Man United
31st Jan, 2012: Swansea 1-1 Chelsea

Bolton:WLLDW

18th Feb, 2012: Millwall 0-2 Bolton (FA Cup)
11th Feb, 2012: Bolton 1-2 Wigan
4th Feb, 2012: Norwich 2-0 Bolton
1st Feb, 2012: Bolton 0-0 Arsenal
28th Jan, 2012: Bolton 2-1 Swansea (FA Cup)

Probable Line-Ups:

Chelsea (4-3-3): Cech (Gk), Ivanovic, Cahill, Luiz, Cole, Meireles, Ramires, Lampard, Mata, Sturridge, Torres

Chelsea lost Jose Bosingwa to a hamstring injury at Napoli while Terry is expected to be out for at least a month with his knee injury. Hence, Cole and Branislav Ivanovic will be the starting full-backs while Gary Cahill and David Luiz continue in the centre of defence. It remains to be seen if Lampard is brought back into the starting line-up while Ramires and Meireles should start in midfield. Torres was an unused substitute against Napoli and he might get a place in the starting eleven, with Mata and Sturridge providing support from the wide positions.

Bolton (4-5-1): Bogdan (Gk), Mears, Wheater, Knight, Robinson, Eagles, Reo-Coker, Davies, Muamba, Petrov, Ngog

Owen Coyle usually sets his side out in a 4-5-1 formation away from home, with David Ngog as the lone striker. Mark Davies has been the standout performer in that Bolton midfield and he will be aided by Nigel Reo-Coker and Fabrice Muamba in the three-man central midfield while Chris Eagles and Martin Petrov will be the wide-men. At the back, Tyrone Mears and Paul Robinson will flank David Wheather and Zat Knight in the middle while in goal, Adam Bogdan might get the nod ahead of Jussi Jaaskelainen once again.

Prediction: The form book doesn't make great reading for both sides. Chelsea have only two wins in 10 Premier League games while Bolton have a marginally better three victories from the same period. Bolton lack the pace in attack to trouble the ageing Chelsea defence, a point highlighted by the paltry return of 14 goals from 12 away games. Chelsea lack any rhythm at the moment and will have to grind out results until things are sorted out.

Predicted Score: Chelsea 1-1 Bolton

File Photograph Copyright:·Marina Lystseva