Preview: Chelsea v Bolton - 1st Cup Final of Six!

Tonight is the biggest game of our season so far in my eyes. Forget your Man United's, your Liverpool's and your Arsenal's, this is without question a do or die, must-win game for Chelsea.

We have a chance tonight to extend the lead at the top of the Premier league to four points and we cannot let this chance slip. United missed a chance to regain the lead at Blackburn last weekend so its now all in our hands.

This isn't lost on Carlo Ancelotti as he spoke to the press yesterday:

'We are excited because we are involved in the most important competitions in England, and have a real possibility to win but we know also that there are a lot of games again. Five games is not too much but they are important games and every game we need to do our best because every game will be difficult in this moment of the season.

'Bolton will not be easy because Bolton didn't play Saturday, they come to Stamford Bridge and will be fresh. They can do a game with high tempo and we have to pay attention, we played Saturday and maybe it is one of the most important games of our season. Five games to the end of the league and every game can give us more chance to win or less.'

'Now is not the moment to think if we win the Double or not, the most important thing is to stay focused game by game. Our mind now is on the game against Bolton, nothing else, we don't want to think what will happen in a month, we have to wait and stay calm, stay focused and tomorrow improve our table and send Manchester United four points less, a good thing for us, and that's our aim.' (Source chelseafc.com)

We are on an impressive run of form since the switch to 4-3-3 but Ancelotti isn't scared to rotate his side for the game tonight either:

'I did some substitutions in the last games, against Manchester United, Aston Villa, and all the players that came in did a very good job and improved the quality and strength of the team. This is a very good option for the next game

'Some players I want to rest, for sure will start from the beginning Ballack, and Kalou in place of Joe Cole. For the strikers I want to take a decision tomorrow. All players want to play 90 minutes and Deco was not happy when he came out after doing a good job for 70 minutes. I said it is better to play well for 70 minutes than bad for 90 minutes

'Defensively we are doing well, I don't have a possibility to change some players, Ferreira, Alex, Terry, Zhirkov are doing well. Ferreira is doing very well and is a very professional player. Every coach would like to train this kind of player, when he doesn't play he is professional, and I like to work with these kind of players.' (Source chelseafc.com)

So expect maybe one or two changes tonight. The main one (which we all don't agree with) will more than likely be Kalou for Joe Cole. Maybe Deco makes way for Ballack but I wouldn't be surprised if the only change is Kalou.

Sir Alex Ferguson made his comments after they drew against Blackburn saying that we have an easy game tonight which is disrespectful of Bolton because every Chelsea fan will tell you, Bolton always play well against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and tonight will be no different. Ancelotti responded to Sir Alex's comments and reiterated his stance on the run in to the title. He said:

'In this moment of our season nobody can lose our concentration or determination to win the title, only us, I think it is impossible that that happens, we worked all the season to stay in this situation now. Now is a very good situation for us, and we are in a very good position. This happened not because we were lucky but because we worked hard every day. We stayed top for a lot of time, lost it two weeks ago and came back to the top of the list and want to stay until the end of the season

I don't think my players think that we have to play an easy game. It is maybe our most important game because we can win and take four points more than Manchester united, so my players are focused for this. In the paper maybe Bolton has less quality than us, but in every game they can have a possibility to play a game with high intensity because they didn't play. I don't know what we can do about this, we played a tough game on Saturday.

In this moment of the season every game is difficult, at home and also away. Arsenal has difficult matches against Tottenham, Manchester City, so it is not easy. We don't have a good calendar, we have Tottenham, Stoke, a dangerous team, we play against Liverpool, so it is the same now.' (Source chelseafc.com)

In Kevin Davies they have a player who always gives JT a hard game. He is underrated in my opinion and expect another big game tonight if he plays. Remember last season, the game we had against them and how hard they made it for us. Bolton is no easy game at all and right now because of the important three points I will be happy to take a 1-0!.

Anything more than that is a bonus in my opinion. For Bolton its not just about Kevin Davies. They have a hard working team ethic and a goal threat in Matt Taylor, who is another who does well against Chelsea. With the way Bolton play it may be a battle for a good part of the game so Chelsea have to remain focused and keep passing the ball to open them up.

No matter who steps onto the pitch tonight, they HAVE to get the job done. Its in our hands and its about time we grabbed it. We have sat and watched Fergie's boys lift the trophy for three seasons running and its been hard to take after our back-to-back title seasons. So now we have a chance to take a massive step towards getting our hands back on that fantastic trophy once again.

COME ON THE CHELS!

CAREFREE & KTBFFH EVERYONE!