Chelsea back to winning ways

Andre Villas-Boas enjoyed some much-needed respite in front of Roman Abramovich as Chelsea stopped the rot with a 3-0 win over Bolton to return to the Barclays Premier League top four.

The Blues looked every inch a side that had failed to win any of their previous five games in another dire first half against Bolton at Stamford Bridge.

But they turned on the style after the break, defender David Luiz firing them ahead, before Didier Drogba and the recalled Frank Lampard sealed a desperately-needed three points which has left Bolton second bottom.

Chelsea certainly made the more impressive start, Daniel Sturridge testing Adam Bogdan inside five minutes after a burst from the halfway line before finding Lampard with a superb through ball, the midfielder just failing to shake off his marker.

They finally had Bogdan at full stretch in the 29th minute when he palmed away Drogba's left-foot curler. Bolton were even less of a threat and Darren Pratley was booked for a dive before Ryo Miyaichi had their first real effort when he fired over.

Chelsea's opener arrived less than three minutes after the restart. Luiz won the ball high up the pitch, carried on his run forward and profited when David Wheater failed to clear, curling a lovely finish beyond Bogdan.

Chelsea then hit the woodwork twice inside two minutes, Luiz's header from a corner glancing the post before Drogba curled Juan Mata's pass against the top of the crossbar after another breakaway.

There was no stopping the striker in the 61st minute when he shook off Fabrice Muamba to nod in Lampard's corner.

It should have been 3-0 when Branislav Ivanovic finished weakly after Essien's drive was parried by Bogdan, before Chelsea suffered a blow when Drogba limped off to be replaced by Fernando Torres for the last 14 minutes.

A goal arrived three minutes later, but it was Lampard who got it, stealing in at the back post to cushion Mata's cross past Bogdan.