Chelsea hit top gear with 4-0 win

Chelsea confirmed their return to form with a ruthless 4-0 win over Bolton Wanderers on Monday to keep a foothold in the Premier League title race.

Chelsea confirmed their return to form with a ruthless 4-0 win over Bolton Wanderers on Monday to keep a foothold in the Premier League title race.

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If ever there was a fixture for the champions to guarantee a win it is away to Bolton and they clinched their eighth victory in a row at the Reebok Stadium with a stunning strike by Didier Drogba and goals by Florent Malouda, Nicolas Anelka and Ramires.

Those eight games have produced 18 goals for the Londoners while Bolton have failed to find the net in any of them.

Having taken 10 points from 11 games in a dire run, back-to-back victories have stopped the rot and Chelsea moved clear in fourth spot on 41 points.

Manchester City are third on 45, Arsenal second on 46 and Manchester United, who play their game in hand at Blackpool on Tuesday, top on 48.

Bolton, who have taken one point from their last five matches and slipped to 10th, were chasing shadows in the end but, having lost only once at home previously this season, they had started confidently and took the game to the visitors.

Van Bommel joins AC Milan

"Captain Mark van Bommel is joining AC Milan effective immediately," Bayern said in a statement.

"The Dutch international asked for his contract to become void to transfer for sporting reasons."