By Mark Heys
April 7 2006

Bolton Wanderers will hope to end a run of three successive defeats as they take on an in=form Liverpool side at Anfield on Sunday. p>Wanderers are going through their worst spell of form in almost eighteen months and haven't managed a Premiership win on the road since December so going to Merseyside to take on a Reds side looking for their sixth straight win will be a tall order.

European champions Liverpool haven't lost at home in the league since Chelsea ran riot by a 4-1 scoreline in early October and only Portuguese side Benfica have taken maximum points at Anfield since then when running out 2-0 winners in a Champions League tie.

Bolton ended the Reds Christmas winning streak in the first game of the New Year when goals from Radhi Jaidi and Kop-flop El-Hadji Diouf earned the Trotters a share of the points in a 2-2 draw at the Reebok Stadium.

One time £10 million forward Diouf could start this weekend's game for Bolton having made his first full appearance in over two months in the midweek defeat by Birmingham City.

Matt Jansen and Ivan Campo are also back in contention for the Wanderers having played well for the reserve side in their 3-0 win over local rivals Wigan Athletic on Wednesday evening.

Ricardo Gardner also hopes to return to the starting eleven following a recent illness leaving Khalilou Fadiga as the only long term absentee with a knee ligament problem.

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez will be without Dutch winger Boudwijn Zenden who is out for the rest of the season with a knee injury and there is also a doubt over French full back Djimi Traore after he suffered with a recent thigh problem.

England midfielder Steven Gerrard returns to the fold after serving a suspension following his sending off in the Merseyside derby win over Everton.

PREMIERSHIP RECORD

23/09/1995 LIVERPOOL 5 (Fowler 4, Harkness) BOLTON WANDERERS 2 (Todd, Patterson)

09/12/1995 BOLTON WANDERERS 0 LIVERPOOL 1 (Collymore)

01/11/1997 BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (Blake) LIVERPOOL 1 (Fowler)

07/03/1998 LIVERPOOL 2 (Ince, Owen) BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (Thompson)

27/08/2001 BOLTON WANDERERS 2 (Ricketts, Holdsworth) LIVERPOOL 1 (Heskey)

01/01/2002 LIVERPOOL 1 (Gerrard) BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (Nolan)

14/09/2002 BOLTON WANDERERS 2 (Gardner, Campo) LIVERPOOL 3 (Baros 2, Heskey)

08/03/2003 LIVERPOOL 2 (Diouf, Owen) BOLTON WANDERERS 0

26/12/2003 LIVERPOOL 3 (Hyppia, Sinama-Pongolle, Smicer) BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (Pedersen)

07/02/2004 BOLTON WANDERERS 2 (Hunt, Djorkaeff) LIVERPOOL 2 (Hyppia, Gerrard)

29/08/2004 BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (Davies) LIVERPOOL 0

02/04/2005 LIVERPOOL 1 (Biscan) BOLTON WANDERERS 0

02/01/2006 BOLTON WANDERERS 2 (Jaidi, Diouf) LIVERPOOL 2 (Gerrard, Garcia)

PREMIERSHIP FORM GUIDE:

Played: 13

Won: 2

Drawn: 4

Lost: 7

CONNECTIONS

Peter Beardsley, El-Hadji Diouf, Roger Hunt, Sammy Lee, Jason McAteer, Phil Neal, Jon Otsemobor, Mark Seagraves, Peter Thompson, Johnny Wheeler

IT HAPPENED WHEN BOLTON PLAYED LIVERPOOL

Premiership legend Robbie Fowler ran riot when these two sides met in September 1995 as he scored four goals for Liverpool in their 5-2 win over the Wanderers at Anfield.

Fowler scored again in the first ever meeting between these two sides at the Reebok Stadium in November 1997 but later saw red in that game for striking a Bolton player.

Current Celtic winger Alan Thompson scored a superb goal from distance at Anfield in March 1998 when playing a one-two with then Bolton team mate Nathan Blake. Liverpool came back to win the game 2-1 with a rather youthful Michael Owen on the scoresheet.

Dean Holdsworth scored one of the most bizarre goals in Bolton history as his last minute effort slithered under Liverpool goalkeeper Sander Westerveld to give Bolton a 2-1 victory in this fixture in August 2001.

Bolton where forced to give 17-year old youngster Danny Livesey his debut in this fixture in September 2002 as a first half substitute for the injured Anthony Barness. Liverpool went on to win the game 3-2 courtesy in the main of two Milan Baros goals

Liverpudlian Kevin Nolan captained the Bolton side on his first visit as a Bolton player to Anfield on New Years Day 2002 and weighed in with the Wanderers goal in a 1-1 draw.

Current Wanderer El-Hadji Diouf was once a ten million Liverpool signing but scored just three goals in over 50 games. One of his three Reds goals came against Bolton at Anfield in March 2003.