A lengthy injury list and a difficult run of fixtures means Bolton and boss Coyle head into their Reebok Stadium clash with the Blues rock bottom of the Premier League.
Bolton have lost five of their six league games to date - 10 of 11 if you take the end of last season into consideration - and against Chelsea their record is even worse.
The Trotters have suffered eight consecutive losses on home soil to Chelsea, failing to find the net even once, and conceding 20 goals in the process.
With a number of key players on the sidelines, salt was rubbed into the wounds this week when it was confirmed midfielder Stuart Holden faces another six months out with a knee injury just when it seemed his nightmare was behind him.
Throw in the fact that come the end of Sunday Bolton will have played Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal in their first seven games, and it is easy to see why Coyle is currently rolling with the punches.
"It's easy for me to stay positive because I know exactly how this game works. I've had a career in it," Coyle said.
"I know at different times there are trials and tribulations, that you get a smack in the teeth and it's not particularly nice.
"But I also know you can feel the other side of it, and when you do that and you've earned wins when you and the club have not been in an ideal position, there's a sense of overcoming an obstacle.
"It then becomes a case of 'right, where's the next one, let's go and overcome that again'.
"But no matter where I've been, even as a player, I've always had to fight and go and earn whatever has come my away, and I'm quite prepared to go and do that again.
"We realise we've been beset by horrible injuries, real traumas in terms of how long the players will be out - Chung-yong Lee, Stuart Holden, and with another five or six on top of that.
"Then there has been the set of fixtures we've been given, but that is the nature of football.
"If you are going to let something like that get you down then you shouldn't be in the game."
Coyle believes just one positive result is all that is required to raise spirits within the camp, particularly ahead of the next international break.
"We've good players, a good team, and yes, one or two things have gone against them," added Coyle.
"But when you work hard to earn that victory it picks you up and you kick on up the table.
"That's what your goal has to be, that sense of achievement, the satisfaction in doing that.
"The only way you do it is by earning it because nobody will gift you it, particularly at this level which is unforgiving.
"So Sunday affords us an opportunity, of winning a game against Chelsea, one I know we are capable of doing."
Coyle has selection woes, though, as on-loan Gael Kakuta is ineligible as he cannot face his parent club, David Wheater and Ivan Klasnic are suspended, while goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen is doubtful with a leg knock.
Source: Team Talk
Source: Team Talk