Summary
It was drizzling in Lancashire as most of England was enjoying a mini heatwave but Chelsea's attacking play lit up the day as far as our supporters were concerned, Frank Lampard hitting a hat-trick and Daniel Sturridge scoring twice.

On his return to the Reebok, Sturridge also created one of Lampard's goals and Chelsea were 4-0 up before half-an-hour was played, Bolton, and especially their Hungarian keeper Adam Bogdan, having a bad day at the back.

The home team were able to close the deficit immediately after the interval as Chelsea conceded from a set piece but Lampard restored the four-goal advantage on a day when the team were clinical in front of goal, boosting confidence ahead of a break for international fixtures.

Best moment
The sight of Lampard netting at the end of the ground where he scored his iconic title-clinchers in 2005 is always special but his third goal in front of the Chelsea fans today also took the midfielder above George Mills in the list of highest league goalscorers for the Blues.

Team news
Didier Drogba started for the first time for five weeks, replacing suspended Fernando Torres and Sturridge also came back in, Juan Mata the one member of the front three in Valenica to keep his place.

The defence was unchanged so David Luiz started with Branislav Ivanovic again on the bench. In midfield, Raul Meireles was preferred to John Mikel Obi as the holding midfielder.

Bolton restored captain Kevin Davies to their line up but he played wide as the formation changed to 4-2-3-1. David Ngog was retained as centre-forward. England international Gary Cahill came back into defence after illness but Jussi Jaaskelainen was unavailable so Bogdan was in goal. Ricardo Gardner came into midfield and Dedryck Boyata was another change in defence.


First half
The tone for the afternoon was set just one minute into the game when David Luiz sent Chelsea on the attack with a pass out to Bosingwa. The low cross that followed asked questions of a Bolton defence yet to touch the ball and it was turned behind for a corner. From that Chelsea scored.

Juan Mata delivered it high into the area and when it dropped over the crowd at the near post, Sturridge was free to nod the ball down into the damp turf from where it bounced into the net. The former loan player in these parts sprinted for a yard in celebration and then thought better of it in respect for the Bolton fans who had made him welcome here last season.

The Trotters' centre-forward Ngog was booked nine minutes in for a foul on David Luiz after the Brazilian had swept up danger wonderfully when Bolton were breaking forward swiftly, and Meireles was a touch fortunate not to follow into the book soon after when referee Peter Walton judged he had fouled another breaking Bolton player from behind.

The second goal on 14 minutes came from the sweetest successful passing move of our season so far. Lampard was involved early on before the ball was moved swiftly forward via Ramires and Mata to Sturridge who squared it into Lampard's run. The midfielder swept the ball home first time from 12 yards out.

Petrov attempted to supply some resistance to the blue tide with a long-range shot but it cleared the Chelsea bar and Mata did similar at the other end when better placed to score.

For long periods the home team could threaten with little more than the odd well-struck cross and one corner that was allowed right across our six-yard box without a touch, whereas Chelsea were looking imperious coming forward with a lot of play coming down our right thanks to David Luiz's use of the ball.

Sturridge was one of the main beneficiaries and on 24 minutes he added his second goal and his team's third. It was a speculative shot that Bolton's second-choice keeper should have dealt with but he could only divert it high into the net. Again no celebration from the scorer.

Lampard did make more of his second goal which arrived just two minutes later and it followed another mishandling by Bogdan. This time the Hungarian pushed a David Luiz shot straight out and Lampard, who had stayed onside while following-up, gobbled up the chance.

Chelsea had a couple of 4-0 wins at this ground to our name in recent seasons, but we had never enjoyed such a lead so early in the game.

We needed another goal to put us on course for our best league win away to Bolton and the closest we came to adding that before the interval was a Mata shot that was saved at the near post by the struggling, pink-shirted Bogdan.

Second half
Bolton made one change at the break, Zat Knight coming on for Gretar Steinsson, and they scored their first goal against Chelsea on their own ground since November 2002 just a minute after the restart.

It had similarities to the first goal conceded at Old Trafford last month, Petrov delivering a good free-kick from the Bolton left flank into our penalty area but this time, although a couple of white shirts had been offside when the ball was struck, the man who headed it in among a crowd, Dedryck Boyata, had not been.

Having gained the loosest of footholds in the game, the home team applied pressure and Villas-Boas made two substitutions early in the half - Ivanovic a straight swap for Bosingwa and Mikel on for Ramires who had just shot off-target after Bogdan had flapped at a corner. Meireles played further forward after the change.

Lampard became the fifth highest league goalscorer in Chelsea's history on 58 minutes after combining with Drogba, as he has done for quite a few of the 119 goals concerned, who returned the ball around about the penalty spot for another first-time finish.

Bolton continued to look more threatening than they had before half-time but Kevin Davies failed to make the most of one opportunity following a Mikel mistake. David Luiz was then booked after blocking a run of Ngog on the edge of the area.

Before the end Bolton came within millimetres of scoring a second goal but were denied by Ivanovic's intervention. Substitute Tuncay and Petrov had carved out the chance but our Serbian somehow made it back to clear Davies's shot just before the whole of the ball crossed the line.

Chelsea were still able to create chances of our own and Sturridge was inches away from his hat-trick when he drilled a Drogba lay-off past the near post. Bolton went closer still when substitute Eagles hit the post with a shot from distance.

The second-half may have been a 'draw' in terms of goals scored but Chelsea can be well pleased with the invigorating display today, especially on the back of a testing away trip in the Champions League.

Chelsea (4-3-3): Cech; Bosingwa (Ivanovic 53), D Luiz, Terry (c), Cole; Ramires (Mikel 56), Meireles, Lampard; Sturridge, Drogba, Mata (Anelka 72).
Unused subs Turnbull, Romeu, Malouda, Lukaku.
Scorers Sturridge 1, 24, Lampard 14, 26, 58.
Booked D Luiz 60, Terry 78

Bolton (4-2-3-1): Bogdan; Steinsson (Knight h-t), Cahill, Boyata, Robinson; Reo-Coker, Gardner (Eagles 74); K Davies (c), Pratley, Petrov; Ngog (Tuncay 74).
Unused subs Lainton, Vela, Muamba, M Davies.
Scorer Boyata 46
Booked Ngog 9

Referee Peter Walton.
Crowd 24,657.

See the full game on Chelsea TV from midnight.