A month from now Brendan Rodgers was written off, was being pushed to the wall by his opponents and it seemed that every coming match was nearing his way towards the axe, however, fast forward a month and now he is smiling, earning praise from his cronies for his recently applied shrewd tactics, – tactics that have exposed defences like that of Chelsea’s – tactics that have got the best out of players that were otherwise deemed as useless.
And before a match against Chelsea that might or might nor pave the way for his 1st ever trophy as a Liverpool manager, Brendan Rodgers is facing a trip by the Championship side Bolton in the grand stage of FA Cup.
While Liverpool are in bright form coming into this match, FA Cup has its own way of spoiling the party for the favorites and Liverpool will be looking to avoid just that on Saturday night in-front of their fans.
Talking about Bolton and looking at their position in the Premiership this season, the former Premier League regulars are sitting comfortably in the Championship and looking at their position in the table, the Whites have no intention of coming back to the Premier League as they sit 15th in the Championship table.
Team News
While the reds have had their share of injuries so far this season, the match against Chelsea was a ray of hope for the reds as they welcomed not one, but two players from the sidelines and Saturday’s fixture would be another step towards rehabilitation for their sidelined players.
With Joe Allen, Mario Balotelli and Glen Johnson all training in the buildup to this match, Brendan Rodgers would have a good list of players to field against the visitors Bolton. Even though Sturridge has recovered from his injury and is now training with the 1st team, the striker has been ruled out of this match by the manager and at best, the Englishman can be in contention to make it to the bench in next midweek’s fixture against the reigning Premier League leaders.
Talking about Bolton and looking at their team to visit Anfield this weekend, all eyes will be on one Emile Heskey who would be undergoing an emotional showdown with the Liverpool fans on Saturday.
Heskey enjoyed a successful 4 year spell at the Anfield based outfit during which he won UEFA Cup, League Cup and FA Cup with the Reds in the early 2000’s.
Stats
• Last two teams that have knocked Liverpool out of the FA Cup in last 2 years have both come from the Championship
• In their last 10 matches in the Championship, Bolton has lost just once winning 4 in the process
• Coming into this match, the Reds have lost none of their last 10 fixtures with last defeat coming in the mid of December
• Both these sides have met 149 times in all competitions before. Liverpool lead with 65 wins to their name however, the Whites aren’t far behind as they have managed a decent 47 wins against Liverpool
• In last 10 fixtures between these sides, Bolton have managed a single win with 9 wins for Liverpool in the process
• Biggest win, by margin, for Bolton came in 1932 when the whites defeated the Reds with an enthralling 8-1 final score
• Biggest win by margin came in 1930 for Liverpool when the Reds defeated Bolton 7-2 at home
Liverpool Vs Bolton will be played on 18:30 GMT on Saturday 24th January at Anfield [Livescore]
Liverpool vs Bolton: Preview, Stats, Team news from the FA Cup
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