Chelsea eased the pressure on beleaguered manager Andre Villas-Boas on Saturday with a 3-0 victory over Bolton to get the club's Premier League campaign back on track.
Second-half goals from David Luiz, Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard gave Villas-Boas something to smile about after a difficult week which saw the Blues pushed to the brink of elimination from the Champions League.
The victory — Chelsea's first in five league matches — saw Villas-Boas's side move back into the Champions League qualification places.
“It was important to win after all the recent disappointments. We have been trying so hard and today we managed to do a great, great game,” Villas-Boas said.
After a poor first-half display, Chelsea's nerves were settled moments after half-time when much-maligned Luiz shot the Blues ahead.
The Brazilian picked up a loose ball and took his time before rifling into the bottom corner past Adam Bogdan.
150th goal for Lampard
Chelsea made the game safe on 61 minutes when Drogba headed in Lampard's corner for 2-0. Lampard then completed the scoring on 79 minutes, his 150th league goal.
The results: Chelsea 3 (Luiz 48, Drogba 61, Lampard 79) bt Bolton 0; Newcastle 2 (Cisse 6, Gutierrez 18) drew with Wolves 2 (Jarvis 50, Doyle 66); QPR 0 lost to Fulham 1 (Pogrebnyak 7); West Brom 4 (Odemwingie 3, 48, Morrison 41, Andrews 90) bt Sunderland 0; Wigan 0 drew with Aston Villa 0.
