Frank Lampard made it four goals in a week at the Reebok Stadium scoring a hat trick as Chelsea thrashed hapless Bolton to reclaim third spot in the Premier League table.

Fresh from his strike against Valencia in Wednesday's Champions League draw the Blues midfielder silenced his growing set of critics once more with a masterclass in finishing with teammate Daniel Sturridge also scoring twice against his former club. A first half double from the deadly duo meant the visitors led 4-0 after half an hour before Dedryck Boyata pulled one back for the Trotters a minute after the restart. Lampard then completed his hat trick compounding a miserable afternoon for Owen Coyle and in particular goalkeeper Adam Bogdan who was at fault for two of the Chelsea goals. Coyle will now be looking over his shoulder after his side lost their sixth consecutive team and remain rooted to the bottom.

It was Sturridge, in for the suspended Fernando Torres, who got Andre Villas-Boas side off and running heading home Juan Mata's corner from close range with just 90 seconds on the clock to mark his return to the club where he spent six months on loan last season in style. He respectfully declined to celebrate but thats the only time Chelsea were courteous during the first period as they barely gave the home side a sniff. The industry of Ramires and Mata in midfield combined with Sturridge's movement was too much for the Trotters and it was no surprise when Lampard made it 2-0 after just 15 minutes sweeping home the strikers cutback from 10 yards out. By now the visitors had settled into the rhythm with the Trotters unable to get the ball up to strikers David N'Gog and Kevin Davies who were well shackled by John Terry and David Luiz. Davies picked up his customary booking midway through the first half after a rash tackle on Luiz.

Two minutes of madness then saw Bogdan's afternoon turn sour with the Hungarian keeper making two glaring errors allowing Sturridge and Lampard to double their tallies. It was the former who scored first seeing his speculative effort on from 20 yards pushed into the roof of the net by Bogdan after trying to tip the ball away at the near post. Lampard then capitalised on another mistake pouncing to tap the ball home from inside the six yard box after the 24-year-old allowed Luiz's shot to bounce off his chest to make it 4-0 after 27 minutes. Chelsea took their foot off gas after that and they were punished just a minute into the second period when Boyata powered a header past Petr Cech after some good work from Martin Petrov down the left.

Lampard had the last laugh though completing his treble on the hour mark playing a neat give and go with Didier Droga before cooly slotting past Bogdan to restore the away sides four goal advantage. Bolton should have had a second goal after Davies toe poke appeared to cross the line despite Branislav Ivanovic's attempts to keep it out only for referee Peter Walton to rule it out. Sturridge then had the chance to score his own hat trick dragging his shot wide from Drogba's pullback. It didn't matter though as they finished the game comfortable winners and made it 16 without loss against the beleaguered Trotters

[divider]

FREE football ad that pays you to view ads

[ad_pod id='qs-2' align='left']