Gary Megson insists tomorrow's Carling Cup clash between Bolton and Chelsea will have no bearing on the teams' meeting in the Barclays Premier League on Saturday.

Bolton play the Blues both home and away in a double-header over the next four days, starting with Wednesday's fourth-round cup tie at Stamford Bridge.

It may look like the ideal warm-up for the weekend's game at the Reebok Stadium, but Megson said that neither he nor his opposite number Carlo Ancelotti would be viewing it like that.

"It won't make any difference at all - it is not part of that preparation and it will have absolutely no bearing on the game on Saturday," Megson said.

"I think if either team was using this as preparation, I think that would demean the Carling Cup a little bit.

"We want to go through, make no mistake about it, and I know Carlo will want to go through.

"Regardless of them wanting to win the Champions League, the Premier League and the FA Cup, they will want to win this one as well - maybe not with the same priority as the other three but they will want to win it, I can assure you."

Bolton go into the game on the back of a thrilling 3-2 victory on Sunday over Everton, who had suffered a 5-0 defeat to Benfica the match before.

Wanderers now face a Chelsea side who inflicted a 5-0 thrashing on their previous visitors Blackburn and Megson said: "We knew the Everton game would be entirely different for ourselves to how it was for Benfica because of the circumstances, and the same will apply to this game.

"They are well capable of beating anybody 5-0, they are fantastic side defensively and going forward, so it's a huge task for everybody that plays Chelsea, but I think they will alter the team a little bit from the one that played against Blackburn on Saturday night."

If Megson is to take heart from any previous results, it will surely be Bolton's 4-3 defeat at Stamford Bridge in the league last April when his team came back from 4-0 down with 20 minutes remaining to almost escape with a point.

Reflecting on that game, Megson said: "They made a couple of changes and we made a couple of changes and we got a bit of impetus from our first goal.

"It is amazing, even the best do it - when you get a bit shaky, it doesn't half take some arresting.

"We scored the first one, followed it up again with another and then in the end I think Chelsea were thankful to kick it off the line and hang on for the three points.

"We did all right, but only really for a 20 minute period, and we have to do it for the full 90."

It has emerged that swine flu had broken out in the Blackburn camp in the week leading up to their game at Stamford Bridge, with Sam Allardyce suggesting there was a chance it could have been passed on to Chelsea's players.

But Megson - who has already seen four of his own players come down with and recover from the virus - insisted he was not concerned about it spreading during a match.

Asked if he was worried about his players coming into contact with Chelsea's, Megson said: "Not from that perspective because I've heard varying opinions.

"I think the one we all need to listen to is that from the medical people, who are saying that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to contract it in that way.

"From our own point of view, you're not going to be a business with quite a few employees and it totally escapes you.

"You are going to get one or two with swine flu and I think on the playing staff I think we have had five, four players and one member of staff. You try and do your best to avoid it but I would imagine it's near enough impossible.

"They are all okay at the moment, but it wouldn't be right to start giving you names."