Games between Bolton and Chelsea hardly occur without controversy. Ahead of Monday night’s match, Coach Owen Coyle shared his bitterness towards playing the Blues.
Earlier in December, Chelsea hosted Bolton in a must-win game for Ancelotti’s struggling team. Florent Malouda’s 61st minute strike proved to be decisive as it gave the Blues all 3 points, but as the eyes of the public could suggest, the scoreboard at the Stamford Bridge should have perhaps featured another result in favour of the visitors at the end of proceedings.
Bolton manager Owen Coyle, who carries fresh memories about that match, spoke to reporters by recalling:
“It [Malouda’s lone goal] should have been ruled out for offside, and we could have had a penalty. We’ve had 2 close-run games with them, and we lost both 1-0.”
The Bolton coach didn’t stop yet. He went further with these statements which included bitter irony:
“We came out on the wrong side of some major decisions in those games. We should have had 2 stonewall penalties last year. I remember one of the being after Didier Drogba was playing volleyball.
“So, margins are minimal and we know that. We’ve been in terrific form at the Reebok and we’ve got to make sure on Monday that we’re on the right side of these margins.”
Actually, Bolton haven’t won a single match since Chelsea last defeated them this season. After going 1-0 down against the Blues in controversial fashion, Bolton also lost 2-1 away to Anfield with Joe Cole’s injury-time winner being blatantly offside. Later on, they could only salvage a point at home to Wigan Athletic before disappointingly losing 2-0 against Tony Pulis’ physical Stoke City.
Chelsea, meanwhile, claim to be out of the woods already following their defeat of Blackburn Rovers on January 15. Carlo Ancelotti, who was the one behind this bold statement, will be tested at the Reebok stadium very shortly.
Bolton manager Owen Coyle, who carries fresh memories about that match, spoke to reporters by recalling:
“It [Malouda’s lone goal] should have been ruled out for offside, and we could have had a penalty. We’ve had 2 close-run games with them, and we lost both 1-0.”
The Bolton coach didn’t stop yet. He went further with these statements which included bitter irony:
“We came out on the wrong side of some major decisions in those games. We should have had 2 stonewall penalties last year. I remember one of the being after Didier Drogba was playing volleyball.
“So, margins are minimal and we know that. We’ve been in terrific form at the Reebok and we’ve got to make sure on Monday that we’re on the right side of these margins.”
Actually, Bolton haven’t won a single match since Chelsea last defeated them this season. After going 1-0 down against the Blues in controversial fashion, Bolton also lost 2-1 away to Anfield with Joe Cole’s injury-time winner being blatantly offside. Later on, they could only salvage a point at home to Wigan Athletic before disappointingly losing 2-0 against Tony Pulis’ physical Stoke City.
Chelsea, meanwhile, claim to be out of the woods already following their defeat of Blackburn Rovers on January 15. Carlo Ancelotti, who was the one behind this bold statement, will be tested at the Reebok stadium very shortly.
