Bolton should travel to Anfield this weekend full of confidence after winning successive matches in league and cup for only the second time this season. Liverpool may have maintained their recent five-match unbeaten league run with a 0-0 draw at Molineux but Rafa Benitez will surely see that result as two points lost. The Reds didn’t impress on the night but they kept their fourth clean-sheet in the last five games and importantly Steven Gerrard returned to the side.
Owen Coyle will be delighted that his new side managed to beat his former club Burnley in what was a relegation 6-pointer. Psychologically it is always better to be out of the relegation zone and the fact they’ve leapfrogged the Clarets in the table plus have a game in hand will give the players far more belief. Owen must be pleased with his new players as they performed well without any reward in both games with Arsenal and have now kept clean-sheets in their last two games in both the league and the FA Cup. This was the Trotters first Premier League clean-sheet of the season which will give the players belief that they can pick up a positive result at Anfield.
Bolton have scored in ten of their last eleven games in all competitions so will pose a threat to a Liverpool side that has improved drastically at the back in recent games and are looking far more solid. The Reds away form may be patchy but at home they are still a force to be reckoned with as Tottenham found out. Rafa’s team outfought Spurs in their last home game but may struggle to overpower Bolton in the same physical manner as the Trotters have the players to compete on that level. The results have started to pick up but the Liverpool swagger and attacking play of last season has yet to return so this match should be extremely tight.
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I can’t see the present Liverpool side thrashing Bolton like they have done to fellow strugglers at Anfield this season. Benitez’ team has beaten the likes of Burnley 4-0, Hull 6-1 and Wolves 2-0 in front of the Liverpool faithful this season but although I do feel the home side will take the points, this one may be decided by a single goal. After all, Bolton will be encouraged by their start under the enthusiastic Owen Coyle and will fancy their chances of stifling the Reds attack.
The Trotters don’t have a good record at Anfield. They’ve lost on their last seven trips to Liverpool and have failed to score there since December 2003. In fact, it’s been 56 years since Bolton last won a league game at Anfield as they’ve lost 12 and drawn twice since. Bill Haley and the Comets were number one in the charts with ‘Rock Around the Clock’ when Bill Ridding’s Bolton team won 3-1 at Anfield. This was 10 years before current manager Owen Coyle was born; the average house price in the UK was a mere £2,280, Elvis Presley released his first hit and Black and White portable TV’s hit the market. Needless to say, it’s been a while.
The return of Steven Gerrard may be key in this game as he showed enough in his first appearance back against Wolves that he will look to join Dirk Kuyt in attack at every opportunity and if Bolton don’t track his surging runs into the box, he will eventually make them pay. After all, he has scored four goals in his last six league appearances against them. With an estimated £30,000 Premier 10 jackpot up for grabs this weekend, I’m backing a narrow home win for Liverpool.
