Jose Mourinho, having seen his side complete a four-point haul from two away games in the north-west, challenged his side to kick for the front in the weeks ahead.

Wednesday night's win at Bolton, on the back of points shared with Man United on Sunday, kept the Blues just three points behind the leaders.

Ahead lies the frenetic Christmas programme, a festive season for Chelsea in both our title winning campaigns under Mourinho with maximum points taken. He is happy that this year's challenge now has a solid base on which to build.

'We like to be top of the league, we have got used to it the last two years,' said Mourinho after Michael Ballack's header had beaten a Bolton side that began the day in third.

'But I am happy. When I looked at the fixtures Man United had and the fixtures Chelsea had in this first period of the season, I am happy to be three points behind.

'I think now is the time to win games consecutively and go top of the league as soon as possible.

'This was the kind of double fixture where if you don't play well and if you are not focused on what you have to do, you leave having lost in Manchester and having dropped points here. It would be easy to have an eight points difference.

'Today I think we played a brilliant first-half in terms of the quality of our game and in the second-half we did what we had to do.

'We defended brilliantly and when we made one or two little mistakes, we had a goalkeeper who made two saves that give us three points.'

Bolton manager Sam Allardyce agreed, lamenting what he saw as good opportunities wasted to pinch a point near the end but admitting Chelsea had been strong before the break.

'We had a difficult battle against a top, top side first-half, competing against their quality, but we managed to limit them to long shots from outside the box.

'I said before the game that it would probably be decided on set pieces, either for or against.

'We allowed too many corners and set plays around the final third in the ten minutes before half-time. The quality of delivery and size of their team paid off for them.'

With Bolton hardly known as the Premiership's Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, it is perhaps a tribute to Chelsea's ability to rise to all challenges that Allardyce could be heard uttering such words.

Another change came in the words Mourinho had for goalscorer Ballack, just a week after he had criticised the German's display against Werder Bremen.

'I am pleased with him, not just because of the winning goal but with everything. Today he was crucial in keeping the ball, defending well and pressing high up the pitch.

'In the last period I played him side-by-side with Makelele because I knew with the direct game, he can dominate in the air. He is a team player and his contribution was great.'

Bolton's long ball approach was also the reason for Chelsea's first substitution - Kalou coming on for Shevchenko with 15 minutes to go.

Both Joe Cole and Arjen Robben were absent from the bench through injury - Cole out for two to three weeks at least with a bruised foot announced Mourinho, Robben for a shorter period. But Kalou was back after three weeks inactivity with his own injury.

'I decided to take Shevchenko off because the last 15 minutes I could guess there would be corners and throw-ins with 20 people in the box,' explained the Chelsea manager.

'I knew Kalou could be an extra man for that and Shevchenko is not a players for that.

'But Sheva played a good game. There is a clear improvement in him, not because of that wonderful shot and that wonderful save, but because of the kind of movements he did.

'Not just supporting movements but penetrating movements, and he was much more adapted to the way of pressing opponents when the team had lost the ball.'

Mourinho had time for one more look at the top of the league table that sees Chelsea now 11 points clear of third-place and Man United 14 points ahead following their 3-0 win over Everton.

'I can imagine that with the very good run they are having, Man United have to be frustrated with only a three points lead. Today is a great example that we are very focussed.'