Bolton Wanderers 0 - 1 Chelsea

Bolton v Chelsea: Preview

Updated: November 28, 2006, 6:09 PM UK

Despite his lofty reputation, the Chelsea striker has done little to justify the enormous price tag that saw him prized away from AC Milan.

After seven years in Serie A, the Ukrainian has struggled to adapt to the hurly-burly of Barclays Premiership life and has so far scored just three times in league combat.

Shevchenko was virtually non-existent during Sunday's draw at Manchester United and rumours are already circulating that the 30-year-old will be offloaded, if not in January then at the end of the season.

However, Lee, who will attempt to mastermind Bolton's first home win over Chelsea in nine years at the Reebok Stadium tomorrow, feels the critics have been too quick to judge the forward.

"People are quick to knock others and label them flops or disasters,'' Lee observed. "No-one at Bolton will say Andriy Shevchenko is a flop because we all realise he is a quality player.

"But sometimes it takes a bit of time to click in the Premiership. People underestimate the difference between our league and the rest.

"The Premiership is one of the best and toughest leagues in the world and it is not easy to adapt straight away.''

Indeed, there are parallels between Shevchenko's position and that of Nicolas Anelka.

While Anelka cost Bolton less than a third of the money Chelsea invested in their big summer signing, the #8million still represented the highest fee ever paid by the Trotters.

Up until last weekend, Anelka was getting plenty of criticism too, having failed to score a single league goal for his new club.

Thankfully for Bolton, his scoring drought came to an end in sensational fashion against his old club Arsenal as the Frenchman's brace helped end a run of five games without a win.

"People like to make rash judgements, stick labels on players and pigeon-hole them,'' said Lee. "But Nicolas has been immense since he first arrived here.

"He is a joy to work with, as I already knew from my time at Liverpool. Everyone here recognised the huge amount of effort he puts into his performances.

"I understand why people were looking at his goalscoring record but for me, strikers are not solely about scoring goals. It is about the overall contribution, the input into the team and the discipline to play for the team. In that respect, he has been excellent.''

Wanderers have received some good news on the injury front, with full-back Nicky Hunt likely to play against Chelsea despite limping out of the Gunners triumph with a hamstring injury.

However, Quinton Fortune, who suffered an ankle problem in the same game, misses out.

Henrik Pedersen would appear to be the automatic replacement for Fortune, although Lee has not completely discounted the claims of Jamaican full-back Ricardo Gardner, who has only just returned after seven months on the sidelines with knee ligament damage.

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho is hoping the sacrifice of staying in the north this week will result in another campaign-defining victory at Bolton.

Mourinho's side sealed the Barclays Premiership at the Reebok Stadium in his first year in England and April's victory virtually assured them of back-to-back titles.

This time, the west London club go into the game knowing three points on Wednesday evening could haul them level with leaders Manchester United.

The psychological important of keeping pace with United has increased the importance of the clash at Bolton, traditionally a tough place to win, as Arsenal found out again at the weekend.

"Bolton is a difficult game,'' Mourinho said. "They have good morale after beating Arsenal last weekend, but we are ready for it.

"It is always difficult to play there but I can say it is my pitch because it is where I was English champion for the first time and took a big step to become champion the next season.''

Chelsea will be acclimatised to their surroundings after deciding to stay on in Manchester following Sunday's draw against United, rather than travel back to London.

"We have sacrificed a little bit of time with our families to try to play these two important games to the maximum of our qualities,'' Mourinho added in the London Evening Standard.

"We are staying in Manchester for four days, to rest and eat well and prepare for the game, because it is another important one for us.''

Michael Ballack and Didier Drogba played the entire 90 minutes against Manchester United and should be available for the clash at the Reebok Stadium.

Midfielder Ballack had been struggling with a calf injury but managed to play in the draw at Old Trafford, while Premiership top scorer Drogba had an ankle complaint.

Centre-half Ricardo Carvalho looked to have fully overcome his ankle problem when he scored against United, but Salomon Kalou missed the clash with a medial ligament injury.