Jose Mourinho has guided his star-studded side to the summit of the early Premier League table, scoring 16 goals in five matches along the way.
Bolton, meanwhile, have won just once in eight Championship games and Dougie Freedman's team have kept only one clean sheet in that time.
It needed a late intervention from a familiar face to end Chelsea's 100 per cent record in the league as Frank Lampard - a veteran of over 600 games for the London club - scored in the sky blue of Manchester City to restrict his former employers to a 1-1 draw on Sunday.
That was Chelsea's second draw in as many games, having also been held at home by Schalke in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday.
Mourinho's men return to Stamford Bridge to face a club they used to enjoy playing against when Bolton were in the top flight.
Bolton emerged victorious from just three of 26 Premier League encounters with Chelsea.
Worse still for the Lancashire outfit is the regularity with which Chelsea have scored past them in previous meetings, the last eight alone in all competitions yielding 26 goals for the four-times League Cup winners.
If there is any hope for Bolton, it may be derived from the fact that this competition falls some way down Chelsea's list of priorities.
Since last winning the competition in 2007 - for the second time under Mourinho - Chelsea have finished runners-up, reached one semi-final and featured in three last-eight ties.
Mourinho has the luxury of a full squad to choose from, but will rotate substantially from the line-up that earned a share of the spoils at the Etihad Stadium, while Freedman will weigh up some changes after Saturday's frustrating 1-0 loss at Wolves, in which Owen Garvan missed a penalty.
