Reebok Stadium, Saturday, August 29, kick off 3pm
THREE games into the season and already it's a "must-win".
Ridiculous but true, and to make matters worse Rafa is favourite to be the first manager in the Premier League to get the chop (11-10 SkyBet, 3-1 Coral).
A bet on Benitez doesn't really add up though - if Liverpool are as skint as everyone says they are how will they pay off Rafa AND cough up the cash to tempt an incoming manager?
Back to the match, and a lot of Reds will have a twitchy bum thinking about this one.
But that slight fear stems from the days of Big (fat head) Sam Allardyce. His up and at 'em style bothered the Reds many a time.
It's a different story under Gary Megson so far - he's made the mistake of trying to get Wanderers playing football.
Our record against Bolton is a lot better than you'd think - we've won our last five, including two at the Reebok.
And in those games we've fired 15 goals, conceding just one.
Bolton are yet to score in the Premier League this season and with the Reds smarting from the Monday night defeat to Aston Villa, and the clamour to write them off in the wake of that game, you'd think they would be in the mood to put things right.
Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard were both off-colour on Monday - and Liverpool's world-class pair rarely have two bad games in a row.
With fall-guy Lucas again in the spotlight for the all the wrong reasons after an own goal against Villa, he could be benched with Gerrard dropping to midfield and Yossi Benayoun playing behind Torres.
New signing Sotirios Kyrgiakos could start in place of Martin Skrtel who is still nursing a broken jaw.
The 6ft 5ins Greek defender could offer a goal threat - he scored eight goals in two seasons for Eintracht Frankfurt, not too shabby for a centre half.
STATS v BOLTON:
Total Games 143. Goals Scored 241, Goals Conceded 186. Win % 41.96, Wins 60, Draws 37, Lost 46.
LAST SEASON:
November 15, 2008@Reebok: Bolton 0-2 Livepool (Kuyt 28, Gerrard 72).
December 26, 2008@Anfield: Liverpool 3-0 Bolton (Riera 25, Keane 52, 57)
ADVICE:
Liverpool were poor against Villa but still created a hatful of chances while Bolton are struggling. Hard to see anything but an away win.
Liverpool 4-7 to win (various)
Key pair Torres and Gerrard will have taken recent criticism from Benitez to heart and will be keen to put things right.
Gerrard and Torres to both score against Bolton (7-2 SkyBet)
The Reds will be quick out of the traps as they try to grab the win early and put their poor start to bed.
Half-time/Full-time betting - Liverpool-Liverpool- i.e. to be winning at the end of each half (6-4 William Hill)
Sotirios Kyrgiakos will be eager to impress on his debut and - unlike Skrtel who stayed back because of his jaw injury against Villa - will go up for corners.
Anytime goalscorer Kyrgiakos (12-1 William Hill)
PREDICTION:
Bolton 0-2 Liverpool (13-2 extrabet)
Ridiculous but true, and to make matters worse Rafa is favourite to be the first manager in the Premier League to get the chop (11-10 SkyBet, 3-1 Coral).
A bet on Benitez doesn't really add up though - if Liverpool are as skint as everyone says they are how will they pay off Rafa AND cough up the cash to tempt an incoming manager?
Back to the match, and a lot of Reds will have a twitchy bum thinking about this one.
But that slight fear stems from the days of Big (fat head) Sam Allardyce. His up and at 'em style bothered the Reds many a time.
It's a different story under Gary Megson so far - he's made the mistake of trying to get Wanderers playing football.
Our record against Bolton is a lot better than you'd think - we've won our last five, including two at the Reebok.
And in those games we've fired 15 goals, conceding just one.
Bolton are yet to score in the Premier League this season and with the Reds smarting from the Monday night defeat to Aston Villa, and the clamour to write them off in the wake of that game, you'd think they would be in the mood to put things right.
Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard were both off-colour on Monday - and Liverpool's world-class pair rarely have two bad games in a row.
With fall-guy Lucas again in the spotlight for the all the wrong reasons after an own goal against Villa, he could be benched with Gerrard dropping to midfield and Yossi Benayoun playing behind Torres.
New signing Sotirios Kyrgiakos could start in place of Martin Skrtel who is still nursing a broken jaw.
The 6ft 5ins Greek defender could offer a goal threat - he scored eight goals in two seasons for Eintracht Frankfurt, not too shabby for a centre half.
STATS v BOLTON:
Total Games 143. Goals Scored 241, Goals Conceded 186. Win % 41.96, Wins 60, Draws 37, Lost 46.
LAST SEASON:
November 15, 2008@Reebok: Bolton 0-2 Livepool (Kuyt 28, Gerrard 72).
December 26, 2008@Anfield: Liverpool 3-0 Bolton (Riera 25, Keane 52, 57)
ADVICE:
Liverpool were poor against Villa but still created a hatful of chances while Bolton are struggling. Hard to see anything but an away win.
Liverpool 4-7 to win (various)
Key pair Torres and Gerrard will have taken recent criticism from Benitez to heart and will be keen to put things right.
Gerrard and Torres to both score against Bolton (7-2 SkyBet)
The Reds will be quick out of the traps as they try to grab the win early and put their poor start to bed.
Half-time/Full-time betting - Liverpool-Liverpool- i.e. to be winning at the end of each half (6-4 William Hill)
Sotirios Kyrgiakos will be eager to impress on his debut and - unlike Skrtel who stayed back because of his jaw injury against Villa - will go up for corners.
Anytime goalscorer Kyrgiakos (12-1 William Hill)
PREDICTION:
Bolton 0-2 Liverpool (13-2 extrabet)
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