Premier League: Bolton 0 Chelsea 4

Chelsea regained fourth place in the English Premier League as Didier Drogba inspired them to a 4-0 victory at Bolton on Monday.

Drogba thumped home his 10th goal of the season with a stunning strike from 30 yards to open proceedings at the Reebok Stadium, with Florent Malouda, Nicolas Anelka and Ramires also scoring as the Blues cruised to victory.

It was Chelsea’s first away win in any competition since October’s league defeat of Blackburn, and it now looks like their miserable run of form has finally ended.

The result means the champions are not yet out of the title race – although they remain seven points behind leaders Manchester United with a game more played – and has seen them rise above London rivals Tottenham into the top four.

Bolton only have themselves to blame for the defeat, with all Chelsea’s goals coming as a result of poor defending.

The first, against the run of play in the 11th minute, saw Gretar Steinsson lose possession at right-back after an unnecessary pass across his own back four from Zat Knight.

Drogba took full advantage, hitting a 30-yard shot so fiercely that it beat goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen even though it was right in the middle of his goal.

It was Drogba’s fourth goal in the last eight league games, which indicates he is finally over a bout of malaria that seriously affected his form before Christmas.

And Chelsea were 2-0 up before the break when Malouda was inexplicably allowed time to fire home from a narrow angle inside the six-yard box after 41 minutes.

The killer third came when former Bolton striker Anelka was also allowed time and space to pick his spot in the 56th minute.

From that moment Chelsea, who were playing without injured Frank Lampard, knew the points were in the bag.

But Bolton’s misery was made worse when Jaaskelainen fumbled Ramires’ shot into the net with 16 minutes to go as Chelsea completed only their fourth away league victory of the season.