Chelsea show their new grit
A club renowned for its showbiz image is proving they can scrap it out on humble foreign soil.
Hasselbaink’s equalising goal against Bolton was a case in point. With the storm clouds settling over nearby Winter Hill, Chelsea were feeling the chill.
Henrik Pedersen had put Bolton on their way to a second successive victory and the clock was ticking down.
The Chelsea of old might just have shrugged their shoulders and admitted defeat. But under the stewardship of coach Claudio Ranieri they have developed a new-found resilience.
Hasselbaink secured an unlikely point when he headed home a delightful cross from Gianfranco Zola on the stroke of full time.
The Dutch striker said: “You can talk about Chelsea not being focused against the small teams but that was not the case at Bolton.
“The team is working hard to get in the Champions League and the spirit is there but we are not talking about the championship.
“I know Arsenal and Liverpool both lost but you have to look at yourself most of all.
“It would have been nicer for us to win at Bolton with those two losing, then we would really have done something. We should have won this game as we had more chances but it was not meant to be and we had to settle for a point.” Hasselbaink is pushing for a place in the starting line up against Sunderland after scoring his fifth goal of the season. “I got the ball from Marcel (Desailly) and laid it off to (Gianfranco) Zola. He crossed a wonderful ball and I got a little touch on my head and their keeper was off-balance,” he said.
The goal came after Celestine Babayaro was red-carded after a challenge on Youri Djorkaeff, leaving Chelsea playing out the last 13 minutes with 10 men.
Ranieri intends to look at the video of the game to see if Babayaro was unfairly treated.
The Chelsea coach said: “Babayaro says it wasn’t intentional that the Bolton player was injured. It was an accident.
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