Rejuvenated Chelsea Rout Bolton, 4-0 At The Reebok

Bolton looked lively to start the second half of their match against Chelsea, but the game appears to be all but over after Nicolas Anelka scored on the 56th minute to give Chelsea a 3-0 lead. It’s a flattering scoreline for the visitors, but they have, without a doubt, played well.

Chelsea’s third goal, Anelka’s 13th of the season, came from a move started by Florent Malouda. From the left wing, he put a ball into the box for Didier Drogba. Drogba took a shot that was blocked, but the ball deflected back to Anelka. He wasted no time getting a shot on target, sliding a low shot past Jussi Jaaskelainen, just inside the far post.

Subs: Bogdan, Rickettes, Wheater, Davies, Cohen, Moreno, Blake

Subs: Turnbull, Ferreira, Bruma, McEachran, Kalou, Sturridge, Kakuta

Although Blackburn are controlling the centre, Albion still look dangerous when they attack in wide areas, and may be able to find their way back into the game if they can exploit the somewhat suspect defending of the home side’s fullbacks. They’ll also need more help from Mark Clattenburg, who denied them a penalty after Jermone Thomas glided past Michel Salgado on the left, then passed to Peter Odemwingie, who was subsequently felled just inside the box. A free kick - not a penalty - was awarded to the visitors, which was fired straight into the wall rather wastefully by Chris Brunt.

Blackburn: Robinson; Olsson, Givet, Samba, Salgado; Pederson, Jones, Dunn, Hoillet; Santa Cruz, Kalinic.

Subs: Bunn, Hanley, Nzoni, M Diouf, E Diouf, Roberts, Mwaruwari.

Villa fans – and many pundits – have questioned the judgment of spending such a vast sum of money on a one-dimensional player, but Bent brings something to the club that they simply did not have before. His poacher’s instincts have seen Gerard Houllier’s side go 1-0 up against Roberto Mancini’s City, and if he keeps this up he’ll prove well worth the money for the midlands side.

Ryan Giggs came incredibly close to scoring a third for the home side when his 41st minute strike from the left side of the box just missed Foster’s post via a slight deflection.

1-0 Arsenal and while it seems inevitable that the home side has more goals in them, it also appears that Wigan have somehow managed to set a force field around their goal to ensure more balls do not find their way into the back of the net.

The goal comes with a tinge of unfortunate irony. At the time of Richardson’s goal, Blackpool was down to ten men, Neal Eardley off the pitch at the time, recovering from having been kicked by Richardson.

Gareth Bale, starting at left back instead of his preferred left midfield for Tottenham Hotspur due to an injury to regular left back Benoit Assou-Ekotto, has been substituted off in the 11th minute for Spurs after he picked up an injury himself. Sebastien Bassong, naturally a left-footed central defender, has come on in his place and will play left back.

This game marks Steven Pienaar’s debut in a Tottenham shirt, having just joined from Everton. He’s starting at left midfield and if Bale’s injury is remotely serious, he arrived just in time for Harry Redknapp’s side. Bale has started all of Tottenham’s matches this season, and will be a big loss if he is out long term. Based on how quickly he was removed, the way he was walking, and the way the trainer was examining him, Bale appeared to have sustained a serious hamstring injury.