By Mark Heys
January 28 2008

Bolton Wanderers hope to put some more distance between themselves and the other sides embroiled in the bottom six when they take on Fulham at the Reebok Stadium tommorow evening.

Wanderers currently lie six points ahead of the Cottagers in the Premier League table and a win for Gary Megson's side could pull them towards the comfort zone of mid-table.

Furthermore, there are three sides just a point behind Bolton in the current standings and of those Sunderland currently occupy the third and final relegation place.

Bolton gained a valuable point after a solid defensive display up at Newcastle in their last game and Megson is likely to go with a similar side again for the next match.

That will mean home debuts for Gretar Steinsson and Matthew Taylor but the protracted £5 million signing of Aston Villa's Gary Cahill has not yet gone through.

Abdoulaye Meite and El-Hadji Diouf are still on international duty with their country so Lubomir Michalik and Joey O'Brien are once again likely to make a start.

Former Fulham player Heidar Helguson is still missing from the team due to a long standing ankle problem, as is Ricardo Vaz-Te who continues to be affected by a hamstring injury.

Fulham boss Roy Hodgson is without knee injury victims Brian McBride and Lee Cook and New Zealander Simon Elliott continues to be absent with an achillies problem.

Hodgson has four new faces to call upon in the shape of striker Eddie Johnson, midfielder Leon Andreasen and defender Brede Hangeland but it is not yet known what role they will play in the game.

LAST TIME WE MET:

15/08/2007 FULHAM 2 (Healy, Cid (OG)) BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (Helguson)

BOLTON: Jussi Jaaskelainen, Nicky Hunt, Abdoulaye Meite, Gerald Cid, Jlloyd Samuel (Lubomir Michalik), El-Hadji Diouf, Gavin McCann (Mikel Alonso), Gary Speed, Kevin Nolan, Heidar Helguson (Daniel Braaten), Nicolas Anelka

SUBS NOT USED: James Sinclair, Ali Al-Habsi (GK)

FULHAM: Tony Warner, Chris Baird, Zat Knight, Carlos Bocanegra, Paul Konchesky, Simon Davies, Steven Davis, Alexei Smertin, Hamuer Bouazza (Clint Dempsey), Brian McBride, David Healy (Diomansy Kamara)

SUBS NOT USED: Moritz Volz, Papa Bouba Diop, Ricardo Batista (GK)

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

Danny Guthrie scored on his Bolton debut when these two sides met in the League Cup earlier in the season. Wanderers went on to win the game in Extra Time.

Former Bolton loan player Martin Pike has scouted for another of his old clubs Fulham since giving up the game.

Heidar Helguson, a Wanderers signing from Fulham last summer, scored on his first return to Craven Cottage back in August but has played just one game for the club since.