FA Premiership/ Bolton 0 Chelsea 2: Chelsea are on song once again. It is not the kind of hit the country will hum along to, but the club are destined to finish the season as chart-toppers.

They won at the Reebok Stadium with the organisation, steeliness and, when appropriate, sharp attacking that Jose Mourinho demands of a side who could retain the title as early as this afternoon.

The Chelsea manager could not help speaking as if the league was over and it was time to start dishing out awards. Mourinho proposed his captain John Terry as the best centre-half on the planet, even though he must know this summer's World Cup will be the judge of that.

Only a misanthrope, though, would have resented Chelsea's contentment.

They had coped well with the occasion and on a bumpy pitch it was the famously awkward Bolton who were given a rough ride. The result was identical to the one that sealed the Premiership here a year ago, but the road to victory was smoother this time. There was just a single incident when it seemed Chelsea might crash.

After 22 minutes William Gallas failed to snip a one-two between Jared Borgetti and Ricardo Vaz Te, letting the Portuguese forward break clear. Vaz Te could not quite strike the bouncing ball accurately enough and the ball bounced off the far post. After that it was inevitable that Bolton's goalless stretch in the Premiership would extend to five hours and 34 minutes.

So far as defending is concerned, the sole clean sheet in the last dozen league games was against now-relegated Sunderland, which barely counts.

The side go to West Brom today with a mission to stave off a sixth consecutive Premiership loss and hopes of a Uefa Cup place are waning. "We would feel we haven't had a good season whatsoever," the manager Sam Allardyce said of that possibility, despite the praise previously showered on Bolton.

There were no accolades on Saturday. Tal Ben Haim, who had been deputising uneasily at right-back for the suspended Nicky Hunt, was sent off in stoppage-time for a second bookable offence.

The performance of the referee Phil Dowd had, however, been erratic. A shameless professional foul on Frank Lampard by Ivan Campo, for example, did not meet with a yellow card.

Chelsea, though, made the most of the free-kick. Lampard's delivery in the 44th minute left the Bolton defence helpless and the ball grazed the brow of Didier Drogba before being headed in more strongly by Terry. There was never a suggestion of a Bolton comeback after that.

The height of Allardyce's team is normally deployed to effect, but the Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech was particularly dominant in the penalty area and his back four improved greatly on certain recent performances. The second goal was a reminder, too, of the effortlessly excellent football the reigning champions can produce at the judicious moment.

They scored in the 59th minute with a move that was fashioned according to Lampard's instructions. He exchanged passes with Michael Essien, located Hernan Crespo on the left, embarked on a run that Henrik Pedersen failed to match and then indicated where Crespo was to roll the return pass. The midfielder swept through to finish confidently.

Lampard will be making a donation to Allardyce's fund-raising for a local drugs and alcohol awareness programme. The manager is to take part next month in a 17-day high-altitude trek from Kathmandu to the base camp of Mount Everest. That will be a gruelling expedition but Lampard, despite the generosity, also gave Allardyce an arduous 90 minutes to negotiate on Saturday.

The home support, with little to relish, resumed a hostility towards Essien that had its origins in an earlier fixture at Stamford Bridge. They howled at him for supposed diving and it was the Ghanaian who was the subject of the challenge that saw Ben Haim dismissed.

For all that, Allardyce had no complaints and remarked that players make sure to go down because, in practice, they will not be awarded a free kick for a foul otherwise. He shunned excuses about a contest that showcased the discipline and, as required, flair of Chelsea.

• Guardian Service