By Mark Heys
August 14 2007

Saturday's heavy defeat against Newcastle United left Bolton Wanderers slightly shellshocked but the Trotters have an immediate chance to put that right when coming up against bogey side Fulham at Craven Cottage on Wednesday night.

The Cottage is never a happy hunting ground for Wanderers but having said that Newcastle said the same about their trips to the Reebok prior to last weekend so maybe this is the time to break with tradition.

In six previous Premiership visits to the West London outfit Bolton have never won and their only point came last August when the two sides played out a 1-1 draw.

Like the Trotters, Fulham are under new management and are adopting a new style with former Northern Ireland manager Lawrie Sanchez taking over from Chris Coleman towards the end of last season.

They too suffered a heavy defeat on the opening weekend at the hands of Arsenal and will want to put on a good show in front of their supporters for the first time this season.

Bolton manager Sammy Lee has suffered mixed news on the injury front as he has to do without hamstring victim Kevin Davies for up to six weeks. However defender Abdoulaye Meite should return to the squad after missing the last game with a back problem.

Ricardo Vaz-Te, Ricardo Gardner, Blerim Dzemaili and Stelios Giannakopoulos join Davies on the treatment table but wingers Daniel Braaten and Christian Wilhelmsson are now available for selection after receiving international clearance.

Former Fulham striker Heidar Helguson is set to make his first start in Bolton colours and there could also be a place in the first eleven for El-Hadji Diouf after he impressed as a substitute against Newcastle.

Republic of Ireland international Andy O'Brien may have to wait to make his Wanderers debut after completing his move from Portsmouth earlier this week due to lack of match practise.

Cottagers manager Sanchez is without long term injury victims Jimmy Bullard (knee), Aaron Hughes (foot) and Simon Elliott (calf) but new signings Chris Baird, Hameur Bouazza, Paul Konchesky, David Healy and Steven Davis will make their home debuts.

LAST TIME WE MET

11/02/2007 BOLTON WANDERERS 2 (Speed (Pen), Nolan) FULHAM 1 (Knight)

BOLTON: Jussi Jaaskelainen, Nicky Hunt, Tal Ben-Haim, Abdoulaye Meite, Ricardo Gardner, Kevin Nolan, Andranik Teimourian (Idan Tal), Gary Speed (David Thompson), Stelios Giannakopoulos, Nicolas Anelka, El-Hadji Diouf (Henrik Pedersen)

Subs Not Used: Ricardo Vaz-Te, Ian Walker

FULHAM: Jan Lastuvka, Moritz Volz (Tomasz Radzinski), Philippe Christanval, Zat Knight, Franck Queudrue, Liam Rosenior, Michael Brown (Alexei Smertin), Papa Bouba Diop, Simon Davies, Brian McBride, Heidar Helguson (Vicenzo Montella)

Subs Not Used: Wayne Routledge, Tony Warner

PLAYED FOR BOTH:

Peter Beardsley, Dave Clement, Martin Djetou, John Dreyer, Fabrice Fernandes, Heidar Helguson, Claus Jensen, Steve McAnespie, Gerry Peyton, Martin Pike, John Salako, Mark Walton

DID YOU KNOW?

Current Wanderers forward Heidar Helguson scored at both ends during Fulham's visit to the Reebok Stadium in February 2006.

Last season's match at Craven Cottage was decided by two late penalties, El-Hadji Diouf converting for Bolton and ex-Wigan man Jimmy Bullard finding the net for the hosts.

Jay-Jay Okocha made his debut for Bolton in this fixture five years ago and David Thompson appeared for the Wanderers for the first time in the last meeting six months ago.

Fulham keeper Antti Niemi played in two reserve games for Bolton in the 1994-1995 season but then manager Bruce Rioch didnt offer a contract.