Prediction: Liverpool vs Bolton

27th August 2011

Liverpool recovered well from sharing spoils with Sunderland in their opening game to beat Arsenal at the Emirates, and the Reds are looking to claim maximum points once again, after winning their last nine Premier League games against Bolton. The Trotters arrive to Anfield hoping to make amends for the home defeat to Manchester City, so there is every chance we will see an interesting encounter in Liverpool.

After Liverpool had shown a lot of potential in the second part of last season, the club chiefs spotted the opportunity to build on the new found confidence and allocated significant transfer funds to boss Kenny Dalglish. King Kenny wasted no time or money to sign what he believed were the players who could help turn the Reds into genuine title contenders, and there are no doubts that Jordan Henderson, Charlie Adam, Stuart Downing and Jose Enrique have improved the quality of the squad. The Reds did struggle somewhat in pre-season, as well as in their opening game against Sunderland, but then recorded a big win at the Emirates, before beating winning their Carling Cup tie against Exeter City as well. The team are slowly showing improvement in their build-up play and with Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll scoring goals for fun, visiting keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen is in for a difficult job at Anfield. Glen Johnson remains a doubt with a hamstring problem, while Raul Meireles has joined Steven Gerrard on the sidelines.

Bolton boss Owen Coyle needed to embark on some serious squad rebuilding after Daniel Sturridge returned to Chelsea and Johan Elmander left the club, especially as Stuart Holden and Lee Chung-Yong were set to miss the start of the season through injuries. The boss made some shrewd signings as he brought Nigel Reo-Coker on free and Chris Eagles on the cheap, while Tuncay Sanli arrived on loan from Wolfsburg. Back up players from last season, Martin Petrov and Ivan Klasnic managed to step up the plate and already showed a lot of potential, hinting that Bolton will again be a force to be reckoned with. Football fans in England didn’t need a lot of time to realize that the Trotters would have a big role to play this season as Bolton hammered newly promoted QPR 4:0 in their opening game, before showing a lot of promise in the 3:2 defeat to Manchester City. Having scored six goals in first two Premiership games, Bolton look more than capable of putting Liverpool’s shaky back line to the test, although their own defence faces a really tough task at Anfield, especially as Marcos Alonso, Sam Ricketts and Tyrone Mears are all out.

Conclusion

Liverpool are slowly raising their form and with so many attacking potential at Kenny Dalglish’s disposal, the Reds are expected to score a couple against Bolton. The Trotters are also looking very good at the moment and having scored six against QPR and City, they should be able to score at least one at Anfield.

Verdict: Both teams to score

Best Odds: 10/11

Bookmaker: William Hill