Frank Lampard stole the show in his 350th league appearance for Chelsea at the Reebok Stadium, scoring a hat-trick and putting in a performance that will have more than answered his critics in the media.

The team lined up with Cech in goal, Luiz and Terry in the centre of defence with Cole and Bosingwa on the left and right respectively.

In mid-field, Villas-Boas opted to start with Ramires on the right hand side, Meireles in the middle and Lampard in his favoured position on the left of a middle three.

Drogba replaced the suspended Fernando Torres in the central striking berth with Mata to his left and Sturridge returning after injury to the right hand side.

The match got off to the best possible start when David Luiz picked up the ball in his own half and played Bosingwa down the right flank, the Portuguese crossed the ball in low and it was cleared for a corner. Mata put the ball in with pace and no-one in the Bolton defence picked up on the movement of Sturridge who headed home from five yards at the near post to make it 1-0 in 90 seconds.

The second goal came just 14 minutes later and it was via a lovely passage of football. Lampard was involved in the build-up and played the ball forward via Ramires, who passed to Mata who then played the ball to Sturridge, who in turn squared it back for Lampard to slot home from 12 yards. 2-0 Chelsea and only 15 mins on the clock.

Pre match predictions from many of a goal glut were looking increasingly likely, and it wasn’t long before Chelsea added the third. Another low ball from the back by Luiz found Sturridge wide right of the Bolton area, the striker cut back inside and unleashed a left footed shot that the Bolton keeper could only deflect high into the net. Sturridge’s second goal, and Chelsea’s third.

Just two minutes later Lampard added his second of the afternoon, David Luiz had stormed from the back and with no-one closing him down he kept on running and hammered as shot at the Bolton goal, with the keeper only able to parry it the familiar figure of Lampard was closing late into the box and slotted home to make it 4-0 in less than half an hour.

With the match almost a foregone conculsion at this point, Bolton’s heads dropped and Chelsea eased off the gas a little for the remaining 15 mins of the half, although did have a few more opportunities to add to the tally with Mata going closest but seeing his shot saved.

Bolton brought on Zat Knight during half time in order to try and close things up at the back yet it was at the other end that Bolton made an impression. An early free kick was sent into the box by Petrov and Boyata evaded everyone to plant his header past Cech to make it 4-1. The free kick was eerily similar to that conceded against United, and again showed our weaknesses at set plays.

Villas-Boas responded after ten minutes of seeing Bolton with their tales up following their goal, and a probable stern word or two from their manager at half time, introducing Ivanovic for Bosingwa and brining on Mikel for Ramires. The Nigerian slipped into the holding role moving Meireles to the right, leaving Lampard on the left.

Frank then became the fifth highest league goalscorer in the clubs history in the 58th minute after combining well with Didier Drogba in the box, for the big Ivorian to pull the ball back to the penalty spot for the advancing Lampard to slot the ball home first time to complete his hat-trick and make it 5-1.

Bolton continued to improve on their first half performance, looking dangerous at times however Chelsea were able to clear the danger the majority of the time, with JT and Luiz making some vital tackles and interceptions. There was however a contentious issue later on when a Davies shot was cleared on the line by Ivanovic, however replays looked to show that the ball had crossed the line.

In the end it wasn’t relevant, and for once the talk won’t be able a poor refereeing decision, it’ll be about one man; Frank Lampard. So often criticised in recent weeks as being ‘finished’, today he proved that was nonsense.

If this is what rest and rotation does for the man, then long may it continue.

Chelsea (4-3-3): Cech; Bosingwa (Ivanovic 53), D Luiz, Terry (c), Cole; Ramires (Mikel 55), Meireles, Lampard; Sturridge, Drogba, Mata (Anelka 72).

Goals: Sturridge 1, 24, Lampard 14, 26, 58.

As another round of Premiership matches kicks off again for the weekend, and with our boys not playing until tomorrow afternoon, here’s what’s being said and written about our beloved blues.

Taken aback by the shock horror of a decent piece on Goal.com, we start with comments from ex-player Alexey Smertin, with interesting insights about his time at Chelsea.

The former Russian international spoke of his relationship with Roman, stating; “I talked to him probably more than any of our guys because we speak the same language, at every game, even away from home, he would come to the dressing room and would be wide-eyed, like a child.”

“He would want to know what the players were thinking during specific parts of the game and why they made certain decisions.” Smertin added; “That is why I definitely respect him. He loves football. As an owner, he is far from the team, I only ever saw him just after a game. He knows he is not a manager.”

Speaking about Roman’s rumoured interference with the team, he states that it doesn’t happen; “In Russia, it often happens that the chairman comes in to a dressing room saying, ‘Let’s do this’ and makes orders to the players. Roman Abramovich is different. He is a proper owner. He is addicted to Chelsea, I’m sure he will be the owner for many years.”

So from nice words, to the rantings of an increasingly senile United manager. Yes our old Salford Scot; Alex Ferguson is ramping up the mind games a little earlier than normal this season with comments that we’ve had an easy start to the season. We can’t argue that our opponents haven’t been the toughest we’ve faced, but let’s look a little deeper into it.

He said; “They’ve certainly had a very easy early start to the season, there’s no doubt about that, There are big games coming up but they’ve had a good start nonetheless and you can only deal with the games that are in front of you.” Indeed we can, and we have. Unlike United who, to be fair, have had a pretty easy start too. They’ve just buggered it up.

We’ve played West Brom, Wigan, Stoke, and West Ham in the Premiership, all teams in the bottom half, and Zilina in the Champions League, a team we were expected to beat, and did just that.

United have faced Newcastle, Fulham, West Ham and Everton, all teams (Fulham apart) who are also in the bottom half, with Rangers their opponents in the Champions League. They failed to beat both Everton and Fulham, throwing the games away late on, and they couldn’t score at all against Rangers.

So looking at the run of matches side by side, they’re almost identical and as Ferguson said, we can only beat what’s in front of us. Well, we can. United seemingly can’t. Despite this, Ferguson still went on to claim; “Our form, I think, has been very good!”. Not as good as ours, Alex.

Anyway, enough of the United baiting, as fun as it is, and onto our mercurial England mid-fielder and Premiership Player of the Decade; Frank Lampard. As you’ll all probably know by now the hernia operation he had a few weeks ago hasn’t yet fully healed and as such he won’t be lining up against Blackpool.

However it’s not his injury that we’re focusing on here, more a comment from Charlie Adam of newly promoted Blackpool. He said; “When we won at Wembley I got a text message from Frank. He wished me all the best and said it would nice to see me in the Premier League next year. That was when it sunk it with me what we had achieved and it was a magical moment.”

Showing what many of us already know about what a gentleman of the game Lampard is, he added; “The fact he took time out from preparing for a World Cup to send a text like that summed up what we had achieved. He has achieved so much in his career it was amazing to think he was following what we were doing when he had a World Cup on the horizon. I will always have kind words for him.”

Adam went on to explain how he’d met Frank on holiday in Dubai, and how he’d picked his brains on the Premiership for several hours with Frank more than willing to impart him with his knowledge; “I asked him so many questions. It was just great to chat. We just spoke and it was interesting to hear what he had done and what the players at Chelsea were like as well. I wanted to know what he had done in his life to get where he was now. We will probably have a quick catch-up after the game and then it’s on with the rest of the season.”

In other news, Spanish super striker David Villa in an interview with The Guardian about his club, country and more, listed John Terry as the best defender he has ever faced. Villa said our captain was the best; “Not just because of his reputation for being tough, but because he is a great defensive player.”

Considering the defenders the Spaniard has faced in his career, that’s some accolade.