Welcome to our coverage of the Premier League three o’clocks, where it’s a big day fro Chelsea and Andre Villas-Boas. If they can’t win at home today against beleaguered Bolton then, until the revolution properly takes hold, you’d have to wonder when can they win? Not for the first time in the last few months, this is the stereotypical huge game for Villas-Boas… with each defeat only escalating the stakes. After all, Roman Abramovich’s new attitude can probably forgive a lot… but not failure to qualify for the Champions League.

Should Chelsea slip up again, Newcastle can temporarily jump into the top four by beating Wolves. It’s also an interesting day at the bottom as resurgent Wigan can jump out of the relegation places by defeating an eminently beatable Aston Villa.

The teams:

Wigan: Al Habsi, Alcaraz, Caldwell, Figueroa, Boyce, McArthur, McCarthy, Gomez, Beausejour, Moses, Di Santo. Subs: Kirkland, Crusat, Watson, Jones, Rodallega, Diame, Stam.

Aston Villa: Given, Hutton, Collins, Cuellar, Warnock, Agbonlahor, Gardner, Keane, Bannan, Albrighton, Bent. Subs: Guzan, Ireland, N’Zogbia, Heskey, Weimann, Herd, Baker.

The teams:

QPR: Kenny, Onuoha, Ferdinand, Hill, Taiwo, Diakite, Mackie, Taarabt, Barton, Wright-Phillips, Zamora. Subs: Cerny, Derry, Gabbidon, Bothroyd, Traore, Buzsaky, Smith.

Fulham: Schwarzer, Kelly, Hughes, Hangeland, John Arne Riise, Ruiz, Murphy, Dembele, Dempsey, Pogrebnyak, Johnson. Subs: Stockdale, Baird, Orlando Sa, Senderos, Duff, Etuhu, Frei.

The teams:

Newcastle: Krul, Simpson, Williamson, Coloccini, Santon, Ryan Taylor, Cabaye, Tiote, Gutierrez, Ba, Cisse. Subs: Elliot, Guthrie, Ben Arfa, Perch, Shola Ameobi, Obertan, Ferguson.

Wolverhampton: Hennessey, Zubar, Berra, Stearman, Ward, Foley, Henry, Edwards, O’Hara, Jarvis, Doyle. Subs: De Vries, Craddock, Kightly, Ebanks-Blake, Hunt, Johnson, Milijas.

West Brom: Foster, Reid, McAuley, Olsson, Ridgewell, Andrews, Mulumbu, Morrison, Odemwingie, Fortune, Thomas. Subs: Fulop, Tchoyi, Long, Dorrans, Shorey, Dawson, Cox.

Sunderland: Mignolet, Bardsley, Turner, O’Shea, Richardson, Larsson, Cattermole, Gardner, Colback, McClean, Sessegnon. Subs: Westwood, Bridge, Campbell, Kilgallon, Meyler, Kyrgiakos, Bendtner.

Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Cahill, Luiz, Cole, Ramires, Essien, Lampard, Sturridge, Drogba, Mata. Subs: Turnbull, Torres, Mikel, Malouda, Meireles, Kalou, Bertrand.

Bolton: Bogdan, Steinsson, Wheater, Ream, Ricketts, Reo-Coker, Muamba, Sanli, Pratley, Miyaichi, Ngog. Subs: Jaaskelainen, Robinson, Eagles, Knight, Klasnic, Boyata, Sordell.

And there’s been a flurry of early goals…

GOAL! West Brom 1-0 Sunderland

Peter Odimwingie heads home from close range after a whipped cross from Youssef Mulumbu that just demanded a finish.

GOAL! Newcastle 1-0 Wolves

So much for the burst of motivation gleaned from a new manager.Wolves already a goal down. Cheik Tiote’s drive is heading wildly wide only for Papiss Demba Cisse to divert it home.

FULL TIME: The conversion from the left hand touchline is Sexton’s one black mark of the day. He retained the kicking tee with ROG on the field.

GOAL! QPR 0-1 Fulham

Oh a supreme assist! Moussa Dembele backheels the ball for Pavel Pogrebnyak to run onto and round Paddy Kenny. QPR in trouble.

Chelsea, meanwhile, have started very brightly at the Bridge against Bolton. They’ve broken through a few times and look a lot more purposeful and cohesive at the least.

GOAL! Newcastle 2-0 Wolves

Gutierrez smacks in a fabulous long-range strike from 20 yards!

This is why the Wolves manager saga was an embarrassment. They were apparently inspired by the burst a new manager gives… but how can there be such a burst if a member of the old guard takes the job?

Chelsea are looking much better… but still no goals.

Red card! Samba Diakite gets his second yellow for QPR after two very bad tackles!

The day goes from bad to worse for Mark Hughes.

GOAL! West Brom 2-0 Sunderland

And, after last week’s heroics against Arsenal, Sunderland are on course for their second successive league defeat in a row. James Morrison nods in Jerome Thomas’s cross.

Half-time at the Bridge where it’s still 0-0. Like so often this season, Chelsea have looked decent but never dynamic. Very, very far – evidently – from a finished article.

The half-time situations then: as it stands, Newcastle are jumping into the Champions League places while Chelsea’s crisis goes on. Worse, Villas-Boas’s team will have layed the same amount of games as Alan Pardew’s so could slip to sixth if Arsenal even draw tomorrow. The results at the bottom, meanwhile, will mean that there will only be a point between 16th and 20th if they stay the way they are. Certainly, it’s quite hard to see QPR coming back into it.

The second halves are off…

GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Bolton

David Luiz finally causes a goal at the right end! Having made the space by surging forward, he collects a loose ball, checks inside and powers home!

GOAL! Newcastle  2-1 Wolves

Perhaps there’s life in Wolves yet! Matt Jarvis’s deflected strike beats Krul. Poor defending from Newcastle really though.

Chelsea still not quite smooth since the goal. Flashes of nice football amidst a fair amount of scrappiness.

GOAL! Chelsea 2-0 Bolton Wanderers

Vintage Chelsea there… Didier Drogba powers home Frank Lampard’s corner. And that should be that. Relief for Villas-Boas.

That was Drogba’s 99th Premier League goal.

GOAL! West Brom 3-0 Sunderland

Oh Sunderland! They’re being destroyed. Odemwingie adds another.

Aston Villa fans chanting “there’s only one Stephen Ireland” as they demand his inclusion.

GOAL! Newcastle 2-2 Wolves

Wow. And that’s going to be a lot of humble pie being eaten! Kevin Doyle sweeps in an equaliser after a ball lands kindly for him at close range. Newcastle had been cruising!

At the JJB, it’s Heskey that comes on for Albrighton rather than Ireland. The Villa fans sing: “you don’t know what you’re doing” to McLeish.

Stephen Ireland finally coming on as McLeish cedes to the ground.

GOAL! Chelsea 3-0 Bolton

A symbolic mix of young and old for Chelsea there as Juan Mata sweeps the ball in superbly for Frank Lampard to sidefoot in.

Frank Lampard is the first player in the Premier League era who has scored more than 10 goals per season for nine consecutive seasons.

Shay Given has just made his first save at the JJB, after 85 minutes.

Wigan pressing home for a winner against Villa…

GOAL! West Brom 4-0 Sunderland

What has happened to Sunderland?? Ireland’s own Keith Andrews turns a beating into a rout!

Meanwhile, Given just about keeps out Di Santo to deny Wigan a win! That would have been a big result at the bottom!

Mark Hughes apparently refused to shake Martin Jol’s hand at the end at Loftus Road.

But Hughes has every reason to be upset: that’s QPR’s seventh home defeat this season and also their fifth red card at home.

And that’s full-time everywhere. An interesting day as Newcastle squandered a great chance and Chelsea jumped back into the four. It got even more interesting at the bottom, though, as the situation there only tightened. We’ll be back shortly with Blackburn Rovers’ daunting trip to Manchester City.