To suggest Chelsea have finally discovered the formula for consistency would be simply foolish. For 41 minutes they were so poor it was impossible to imagine them scoring. By the finish they had torn Bolton apart.
Claudio Ranieri will need more convincing that the club have overcome their disease of falling to the minnows after hammering the big boys. But at the end of this emphatic win, which followed the 4-0 victory here over Liverpool, he could afford a smile.
"The first 35 minutes was very shit, unbelievable," the coach confessed, speaking English the fans will understand.
Having gone behind inside four minutes, Chelsea were at their disjointed worst and Bolton looked comfortable. Two goals in quick succession before half-time and a third by Boudewijn Zenden after 56 minutes changed everything.
Bolton, in the words of their manager Sam Allardyce, "went under" and they are sinking fast. For Chelsea, nine goals in two matches and their first back-to-back league wins merely guarantee them a merry Christmas. The outcome of the next two games, at Arsenal and Newcastle, will determine whether it runs into a happy new year.
Those results will also indicate whether Chelsea can challenge for the title, a prize Ranieri says is beyond his reach but which his players must believe they can attain.
Two goals have been conceded in nine matches, with William Gallas displaying an impressive assurance, though Carlo Cudicini needed to make two good saves.
Bolton have taken only one point from four matches, yet there was nothing wrong with the way they started. Kevin Nolan headed in Per Frandsen's cross and they might have had two more before half-time. The tactic of pulling bodies behind the ball was frustrating Chelsea, with Paul Warhurst impressing in front of the back four.
Suddenly, the game turned. Chelsea, having struggled with their passing and created nothing, got two goals from long balls.
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink ran on to Zenden's pass, held off Mike Whitlow and set up Eidur Gudjohnsen to score against his former club with a fine low shot. Then Gudjohnsen's skill and neat pass allowed Hasselbaink the second.
"Forty-one minutes of doing the job properly and then four minutes of madness," Allardyce said. "We over-exposed ourselves, which you can ill afford to do against a side with Chelsea's quality.
After Ranieri had berated his players - "At half-time, I told them how badly they had played. I said that the warm-up had finished and now please play football." - worse followed for Bolton. Zenden was able to ride Warhurst's challenge and lob Jussi Jaaskelainen and, uncharacteristically, the visitors lost their passion.
Cudicini still needed to dive smartly to his left to tip substitute Dean Holdsworth's header around the post but Chelsea were soon out of sight.
Hasselbaink sent Dalla Bona clear down the right flank and his cross was turned into his own net by Hendry as Gudjohnsen lurked behind him.
Hasselbaink then spurned a glorious opening, while Jaaskelainen rushed out to deny Gudjohnsen but Frank Lampard scored his first Premiership goal for Chelsea from the edge of the box to complete a strange afternoon.
Despite managing only four efforts of their own on target, Ranieri's team had scored five times. Then again, little is ever straightforward with Chelsea.
Gudjohnsen was bemused by the pattern of the game. "It's hard to explain why we did so poorly in taking 35 minutes to string three or four passes together, but as soon as we got the ball down and played it, we scored two goals. We played much better in the second half and killed them off."
However, Ranieri went on to warn that he is now looking for Chelsea's improving consistency to be extended throughout the holiday period. "This was one game. I expect us to carry this on."
CHELSEA: Cudicini, Le Saux (Ferrer 82), Gallas, Terry, Melchiot, Lampard, Stanic, Dalla Bona, Zenden (Petit 66), Gudjohnsen (Zola 80), Hasselbaink. Subs Not Used: de Goey, Jokanovic. Booked: Gudjohnsen, Terry. Goals: Gudjohnsen 41, Hasselbaink 45, Zenden 56, Hendry 76 og, Lampard 87.
BOLTON: Jaaskelainen, N'Gotty, Whitlow, Hendry, Warhurst (Hansen 77), Charlton, Frandsen (Farrelly 58), Gardner, Johnson (Holdsworth 59), Nolan, Ricketts. Subs Not Used: Poole, Diawara. Booked: Johnson, Whitlow. Goals: Nolan 3.
Referee: U Rennie
