My Chelsea love story will not be complete without a mention about Bolton. Just like for Chelsea FC, who won their first title in 50 years against Bolton, they show up in an event of historic significance for me. Like Forrest Gump. My first and only (so far) match ever at Stamford Bridge was played against Bolton. That was a nervy win but an important win nevertheless. I remember how tense I was. I wanted us to win and keep our title chase. Also more importantly I wanted my first match at Stamford Bridge to be a memorable one. Thanks to Nicolas Anelka’s head, it certainly was.

Our travel to Reebok happnens with the knowledge that both Man Utd and Arsenal have won their matches fairly convincingly. Yes, Man City have lost to a goal from the 24m striker but I don’t think we should peg ourselves against teams beyond the top two. Is this a new found arrogance? Not really. If we truly think that our winning ways are back, why don’t we give it all and set our sights high?

Carlo should have all of his current untouchables available. After a bit of scare around Terry and Lampard, looks like they will play. I think you can pretty much guess the first eleven. Carlo is a bit conservative when it comes to team selection. If I’ve understood him well enough, I think the team should be – Cech, Terry, Ivanovic, Ferreira, Ashley Cole, Essien, Ramires, Lampard, Anelka, Malouda and Drogba. Yes, I think he will bring in Ferreira because, Ferreira is a more defensive minded defender than Bosingwa. This being an away match, Carlo might go for Ferreira. Also, Bolton do not have any speed merchants that could test Ferreira’s lack of pace. Ferreira is more defensive minded but that should not be interpreted as a ‘better defender’. I’d pick Bosingwa over Ferreira anyday. Yes, Bosingwa is a bit more aggressive in approach but as an overall package, Bosingwa offers more to the team than Ferreira.

I think Ramires and Lampard are sure-starters. I’m still not convinced that Essien deserves a start. I’m okay to start him in an away match where the game could be more open. It’s in the home matches where Essien’s presence, nowadays, doesn’t seem to add much in our struggle to open up packed defences. I’m aware that Essien should play so he can gain some confidence and form, if he does regain them, Josh is never going to get some pitch time.

We have had bright youngsters who, after showing some promise, haven’t managed to blossom further and then have moved on. We should strike it when it’s hot. Josh is hot. Get the best out of him that could develop him as a player. He can be our Lampard by the time he’s 20, if only we start treating him like a first team player and has the same yardstick. Well, there goes my today’s dose of ‘Play Josh’ campaign. Think I’m sounding like a broken record these days.

The front three calls for another important decision. Not often you had so many decisions to make on the first eleven at Chelsea. Such irony that the successful combination of Drogba-Malouda-Anelka is no longer a preferred combination with every one of them unable to confidently claim their place. Drogba has been out of form. Malouda’s work rate has come down. Anelka’s approach doesn’t help much when we’re out of ideas as a team. Sturridge is banging them in but ends up getting 5 mins at the end. We should drop some big names at least to show that they can’t take their places for granted. And it sends out a message to the youngsters that if they play well, they will get picked ahead of the biggies.

This is the squad that we have chosen from the opinion poll in the earlier post:

Petr Cech (42 Votes), Ashley Cole (42 Votes), John Terry (41 Votes), Branislav Ivanovic (41 Votes), Frank Lampard (38 Votes), Jose Bosingwa (37 Votes), Michael Essien (32 Votes), Didier Drogba (31 Votes), Ramires (29 Votes), Daniel Sturridge (28 Votes) and Nicolas Anelka (28 Votes).

Out of the 42 votes, only Petr Cech and Ashley Cole have got a vote from every single voter. Poor young Josh didn’t make it. Until yesterday, Malouda was in and Ramires was not. Today though, Ramires is in and Malouda is in the bench with Josh. Sturridge gets the nod. Let’s see how close we are with Carlo’s picks.

Winning at Reebok won’t be easy though. If you add up Chelsea’s away form and Bolton’s home form, you’ve got reasons to worry. They’ve been beaten only once this season at home – a late goal defeat to Liverpool. They have drawn with Man Utd and they beat Spurs 4-2 at the Reebok. They’re lying only three places below us in the league. So let’s not be under any cloud of over-confidence. They are particularly good at set pieces. That gives us a good excuse to field an ‘all-seniors’ team.

I’m very confident that we’ll win. I know the last match wasn’t quite the reassurance we were looking for but at least the ingredients were there. We pressured them right from the start and were looking dangerous whenever we had the ball. We should have created more and better chances but at least, we weren’t so clueless as we were for a couple of months. The celebration of the goals and the final result would have definitely added something to the slowly improving morale.

Here goes my prediction. Another 2-0 win for Chelsea. Lampard and Drogba (it’s about time chief!).