Chelsea vs. Bolton Wanderers: 6 Things Learned in Vital 3-0 Win

Chelsea, Andre Villas-Boas, Roman Abramovich and the Stamford Bridge faithful learned a lot from the all-important 3-0 win over Bolton Wanderers in the Premier League on Saturday.

Frank Lampard set the Premier League record for the most consecutive seasons with a double-figure goal tally with his effort on 79 minutes, adding to earlier strikes from David Luiz and Didier Drogba.

A lot was clear in the game about the away side.

Bolton are destined for relegation, while their on-loan talent from Arsenal, Ryo Miyaichi, is possibly one of the most Jekyll and Hyde players around—great in attack, awful in defence.

But the most important lessons learned came from the hosts, and here's six of them.

Fast Play Works for Chelsea

Chelsea played at a high tempo today, and it worked to great effect.

All of their goals were scored due to quick build-up, and Bolton failed to cope with Juan Mata, Frank Lampard, Daniel Sturridge, Ramires and Didier Drogba.

And with Michael Essien staying disciplined in the holding midfield role, the Blues could counter quick without risking too many open gaps in defence.

Perhaps it was more of a psychological tactic than anything else by Andre Villas-Boas, telling the opposition that Chelsea are still an attacking force, which can rip defences apart.

Either way it worked, and if Essien can stay fit and in good-form in that holding role, that particular strategy could be a possible solution for the team's current problems.

Frank Lampard Should Have a Bigger Role

Andre Villas-Boas should play Frank Lampard as much as possible, and give him as big a role as possible.

He was man of the match again today—his seventh MoM of the season—scoring a goal, making an assist, hitting both his shots on target and creating a further four clear goal-scoring opportunities for teammates.

He also whacked in 11 crosses, five of which were accurate, thread in an accurate through ball and also sprayed three long balls.

That's playmaking ability not even Juan Mata, who grabbed an assist also, could manage.

Chelsea Need Didier Drogba to Be in-Form

When Didier Drogba is in form, Chelsea are in form.

Drogba scored, hit the post, made two key passes, and had six shots on goal—all of which fatigued Bolton's defence and paved the way for another goal.

The 33-year-old Ivory Coast international is crucial for the Blues when he plays, and his team almost always win when he's on form.

Given that Fernando Torres isn't scoring and Daniel Sturridge continues to be at odds with the manager over his best position, a red-hot goal grabbing Drogba is key to Chelsea's success.

Speaking of Torres...

Fernando Torres Will Never Score

The Bolton Wanderers game proved Fernando Torres is useless for Chelsea right now, and at his current rate of performance never looks like scoring.

It's no surprise Vicente Del Bosque dropped him from the Spain squad—his positioning is awful, his commitment is dire and his decision-making is highly questionable.

Any time the Blues got forward against Bolton when Torres came on, the 27-year-old striker dropped deep to the edge of the penalty area, and never attacked the ball.

He was seemingly waiting for the perfect chance to fall to him, and appeared too scared to take a cross on in case he hit a shot wide.

He's lost more confidence than he ever has before in his career, and his new low in terms of self-efficacy means it's currently impossible to see him ever score a goal again for Chelsea.

Chelsea Defence Still Needs Work

Andre Villas-Boas still needs to sort out his team's defence, despite their clean sheet in this match.

A very lacklustre Bolton Wanderers team were allowed to have 11 shots at goal, despite only retaining 41 percent possession.

The Chelsea defenders' lack of closing down could've been costly, especially when at just 1-0 up Nigel Reo-Coker was allowed a brilliant chance to draw Bolton level.

David Luiz, who's high-line positioning left him with too much tracking back, and Gary Cahill also lacked coordination at times, again costly in conceding shots on goal.

A bit more centre-back understanding, and work on closing down and defensive positioning is needed in training this week.

Win Not a Clear Indicator for AVB

The win over Bolton, as useful and morale-boosting as it is for Chelsea, doesn't provide Andre Villas-Boas the information he needs to find out how improved his side are from their recent debacle.

The Trotters were far too attacking for their own good and left a lot of gaps in midfield—Owen Coyle got his tactics completely wrong.

Plus, they were a team clearly down on confidence and were clearly psychologically beaten before they turned up at Stamford Bridge.

Not many other opponents this season will be so easy to overcome for Chelsea, as most others side will display more confidence, be more disciplined in defence, leave virtually no gaps in midfield and will have better players to hurt the Blues on the counter-attack.

Whilst this is a great win for Chelsea, it's not one which would leave them favourites to beat Napoli in the return leg of the Champions League last 16 knockout round for example.