Liverpool v Bolton / Newcastle v Man Utd
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Liverpool v Bolton - Anfield
Ch 23 - 8:45 pm - (Live)
Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez must wait on Craig Bellamy's fitness ahead of Bolton's visit after the striker felt a tight hamstring in the win over Spurs.
Otherwise Benitez has no new worries, with Boudewijn Zenden, Mohamed Sissoko and Harry Kewell long-term injuries.
Bolton manager Sam Allardyce could be tempted to name an unchanged side after their 3-2 win over Portsmouth.
Nicolas Anelka will hope to add to his recent record of seven goals in eight games against his former club.
LIVERPOOL and Bolton will get the Premiership underway in 2007. Their lunchtime engagement is an intriguing affair between the two clubs sitting in the top four. The Reds climbed back to fourth with Saturday's single goal victory at Tottenham - their fifth win in six Premiership outings. Another maximum here would see them swapping places with the Trotters.
Rafa Benitez' side have not conceded in five games or 484 minutes (eight hours four minutes) of Premiership football on home turf, since Gabriel Agbonlahor scored Aston Villa's only goal in a 3-1 result on 28 October.
Peter CROUCH is Liverpool's top scorer with nine goals.
BOLTON have climbed into the top three with a fifth win on the bounce by the odd goal in five over fellow in-form Portsmouth. This is Bolton's eighth season in this League, and they've never before managed a string of six successive Premiership victories.
The Trotters travel the 42 miles in search of a sixth League victim on the road and a third in succession. The Reebok club have already accounted for Portsmouth, Newcastle, Blackburn, Aston Villa and Manchester City on their top flight travels.
Wanderers took advantage of Liverpool's wretched away form to win the reverse fixture 2-0.
Nicolas ANELKA is Bolton's top scorer with eight goals - seven of which were in the Premiership.
ANELKA has scored five in five League appearances.
There are two former Liverpool players in the Bolton ranks - ANEKLA and El-Hadji DIOUF.
Liverpool : Reina, Finnan, Agger, Carragher, Riise, Gerrard, Luis Garcia, Aurelio, Alonso, Bellamy, Kuyt, Hyypia, Gonzalez, Crouch, Fowler, Pennant, Paletta, Martin, Dudek.
Bolton : Jaaskelainen, Hunt, Meite, Faye, Ben Haim, Giannakopoulos, Speed, Campo, Nolan, Diouf, Anelka, Davies, Walker, Pedersen, Gardner, Vaz Te, Tal, Teimourian, Fojut.
REFEREE
Graham Poll (Tring, Hertfordshire)
LAST SEASON'S CORRESPONDING GAME
Liverpool 1-0 Bolton Wanderers
9 April 2006 - Ref: Rob Styles
Liverpool scorer: Fowler 45
THIS SEASON'S REVERSE FIXTURE
Bolton Wanderers 2-0 Liverpool
30 September 2006 - Ref: Phil Dowd
Bolton scorers: Speed 30, Campo 51
HEAD TO HEAD TOTALS
at Liverpool only
League: Liverpool 27 wins, Bolton 10, Draws 16
Prem: Liverpool 6 wins, Bolton 0, Draws 1 -
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Newcastle v Manchester Utd - St James' Park
Ch 24 - 1:15 am - (Live)
Newcastle may be forced to play Nicky Butt in the centre of defence after the injury to Peter Ramage at Everton.
Ramage's injury has left Steven Taylor as Newcastle's only fit centre-half, with Titus Bramble and Craig Moore out.
Paul Scholes and Nemanja Vidic return from suspension as Manchester United look to complete a 100% return over the festive period against Newcastle.
Rio Ferdinand (shin) is a doubt, but Gary Neville is back, after United denied claims he needs calf surgery.
NEWCASTLE UNITED had been making giant strides up the table with five wins in six Premiership matches, until consecutive away defeats to Bolton on Boxing Day and Everton on Saturday. Now Glenn Roeder's side just must pick themselves up to face a red hot Manchester United outfit in the early evening game, with the leaders hunting a 14th win in 16 top flight fixtures since the beginning of October.
The Magpies are challenging for a fifth successive home Premiership victory, having taken 12 points out of 12 points off Portsmouth, Reading, Watford and Spurs in successive League outings at St James' Park since 26 November.
Obafemi MARTINS is Newcastle's top scorer with nine goals - seven of which were in the Premiership.
MANCHESTER UNITED have not spent such a lengthy period at the top of the Premiership table since the 2000-01 season, and now have opportunity to really turn the screw on chasing Chelsea. Victory would put them nine points clear of the champions, who don't visit Aston Villa until Tuesday night. Sir Alex Ferguson's side have claimed maximum points and scored three goals in each of the festive fixtures - away to Villa, and home to Wigan and Reading. Ronaldo has been pivotal in those three fixtures, scoring two goals in each.
The Red Devils have won eight of their 10 top flight games on the road so far. They've only dropped points in this season's Premiership travels to Reading and West Ham.
Louis SAHA and Cristiano RONALDO are United's joint top scorers with 12 goals each.
RONALDO is the club's top marksmen in the Premiership, as all 12 of his goals have been netted in the League.
Newcastle : Given, Srnicek, Krul, Solano, Edgar, Taylor, Huntington, Parker, Butt, Emre, Milner, Pattison, Troisi, Gate, Martins, Dyer, Sibierski, Luque, Carroll.
Man Utd : Van der Sar, Kuszczak, Neville, Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Silvestre, Evra, Heinze, Ronaldo, Park, Fletcher, Carrick, Scholes, O'Shea, Giggs, Richardson, Rooney, Solskjaer, Saha.
REFEREE
Rob Styles (Waterlooville, Hampshire)
LAST SEASON'S CORRESPONDING GAME
Newcastle United 0-2 Manchester United
28 August 2005 - Ref: Howard Webb
Man United scorers: Rooney 66, van Nistelrooy 90
THIS SEASON'S REVERSE FIXTURE
Manchester United 2-0 Newcastle United
1 October 2006 - Ref: Mike Dean
Man United scorers: Solskjaer 41, 49
HEAD TO HEAD TOTALS
at Newcastle only
League: Newcastle 29 wins, Man Utd 24, Draws 15
Prem: Newcastle 3 wins, Man Utd 7, Draws 3 -
Blocking and diving is Bolton's way, says BenÃtez
The simmering antipathy between Liverpool and Bolton Wanderers has resurfaced yet again before the teams' meeting at Anfield this afternoon, with Rafael BenÃtez warning today's referee, Graham Poll, to look out for what he perceives to be the visitors' overly aggressive tactics and gamesmanship.
BenÃtez claimed that Bolton's emphasis on blocking opponents at corners and free-kicks would not be tolerated in his native Spain and he urged Poll to be aware of El Hadji Diouf's apparent pride at winning set plays by diving - the former Liverpool striker said in November that "sometimes when I need to dive to get a penalty it's because, for me, the best footballer is a footballer who is very clever".
A victory for Liverpool would lift them above Bolton into third place in the Premiership but Sam Allardyce's side pose a threat. "When you play against Bolton, the key during the game is the referee," said BenÃtez, who suffered his first domestic defeat as Liverpool's manager against Bolton in August 2004 and has had a fractious relationship with Allardyce ever since.
"Each player or each team decides how they want to win, and you can't criticise them for that, but the rules are the same for everybody. When you play against Bolton you must say to the referee: 'Be aware of each throw-in, each foul or each free-kick you award because it makes a big difference if the decisions are right or wrong.'
"I don't think Bolton could play the way they do in Spain. At every free-kick, every corner, every throw-in they commit what in Spain would be a foul, but here it's not. They know this and they take advantage of all these things.
"When they block someone or go against the goalkeeper, it's up to the referee to see it's a foul. It happens from all their set pieces - you can see two or three players trying to take advantage of this. I've seen two or three players surrounding the keeper sometimes. That is a foul, simple as that.
"Diouf and Nicolas Anelka are good players but one of them is really proud of diving and I don't like that. If we are killing the players who dive and someone says he is proud to dive because it is good for him and his team, then I feel we cannot support this. The referee must be aware of this." -
Rafael Benitez has admitted there's no time for his players to dwell on Saturday's excellent win at Tottenham with Bolton set to visit Anfield in just 24 hours time.
Luis Garcia secured the victory for Liverpool at White Hart Lane but Benitez has already turned his attentions towards tomorrow's game when the Reds will take on third placed Bolton.
"You know my idea," said Benitez, "it's impossible for the players to be physically fit when you are playing Saturday and then Monday.
"We have no time to prepare the game but the players will be as ready as they can be for what we know is going to be a difficult match.
"Bolton are a good side with experienced players and they play with a style they have used for years. They are very good at what they do and we know what to expect. All teams have problems in playing against them.
"As always, it's up to the referee to be aware of what is going on during these games and I hope that will be the case this time.
"It was important to beat Tottenham because they were close to us in the league and it's the same this time as well. Bolton are having a good season but it's important that we beat them." -
i trying special on SP..pool win n MU draw..hoho
confident pool will nick it, uhmm Magpies hopefully Martins play well
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Will Anelka score against liverpool? He seems to be scoring against his previous clubs... Arsenal, Man City... now Pools turn?
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newcastle will need a miracle to get anything out of tis game.
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But they have been getting better in their last few games already... It should be a tough one for united, man utd that is...Originally posted by monoslayer:newcastle will need a miracle to get anything out of tis game. -
take a look at newcastle's defence. should b a walk in the park for rooney n gang.Originally posted by zocoss:But they have been getting better in their last few games already... It should be a tough one for united, man utd that is...
attacking right midfielder Solano playing as right back, defensive midfielder Nicky butt partnering young steve taylor n academy centre back huntington as left back.
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But recently they won 5 out of 6 matches somemore this is at home... Won't be easy for the red devils...
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Half-Time:
Liverpool 0 - 0 Bolton -
HT
Pool 0-0 Bolton -
u all nvr show who got yellow/red card or offside wan ar?
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Upon request from our fellow member
Yellow card:
20' T.B. Haim -
65 mins:
Liverpool 2 - 0 Bolton
Crouch
Gerrard
Crouch like from Brazil like that...
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65' Abdoulaye Faye (Bolton Wanderers) is shown the yellow card for dissent.
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Full Time
Pool 3-0 Bolton -
Goals:
Crouch 61'
Gerrard 63'
Kuyt 83'
Yellow cards:
Haim 20'
Campo 58'
Diagne-Faye 65' -
Newcastle 2-2 Man Utd
A second-half strike from Newcastle's David Edgar denied leaders Manchester United victory in a thrilling match.
The Magpies took a surprise lead when James Milner fired in a stunning shot high into Edwin van der Sar's goal.
The visitors bounced back when Scholes rifled in a brilliant 20-yard shot before he scored a sublime second from a similar distance.
But 19-year-old defender Edgar grabbed a point for Newcastle with a 25-yard drive that deflected in off Scholes
The action started almost from the word go when Louis Saha came close to giving the visitors the lead, but fired just wide of Shay Given's goal.
Ronaldo, who tormented the inexperienced Newcastle defence all match, gave Saha the chance to make amends for his earlier miss, but this time the Frenchman was thwarted by an impressive save from Given.
The striker then had a header blocked on the line from Giggs' cross, before his miserable day was complete when he came off with an injury.
Nevertheless, Sir Alex Ferguson's men still looked formidable opposition and when Newcastle took the lead it not only stunned the leaders but also the crowd at St James'.
Milner, one of Newcastle's players of the campaign so far, was quick on to Dyer's pass and after cutting in from the left flank smashed in a superb 25-yard shot high into the roof of Van der Sar's goal.
If one thing let Newcastle down earlier in the season it was their defence, and with three first-choice defenders out injured the home side were always going to find it difficult to keep this fantastic Manchester United side at bay.
And true to form, the visitors bounced back courtesy of a bit of magic from Scholes.
The little maestro tricked past two Newcastle challenges on the edge of the area to fire in low.
It was what Ferguson's team deserved and straight after the break Scholes scored his second with another wondrous effort.
The midfielder was fed a square ball and took little time to fire a low drive through the legs of defender Steven Taylor and past a helpless Given.
It looked all over for Glenn Roeder's men until Edgar decided to make a rare foray into the opposition's half.
The Canadian, making his first start for the club as a replacement for the injured Nicky Butt, ventured down the left and hit an opportunist strike that took a slight deflection off Scholes and beat the hand of Van der Sar.
The visitors feverishly looked for a late winner, but their best opportunity, a Ronaldo header, was cleared off the line by an alert Nolberto Solano.
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Newcastle manager Glenn Roeder:
"It was terrific and we will enjoy the result. When you play Manchester United you have to keep trying to take the game to them.
"The lads came in and did a great job and it just shows how much courage and team spirit there is in the squad.
"David Edgar is not renowned for his 25 yarders and he must have been saving it for a special occasion."
Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson:
"We missed a stack of chances but we have to admire Newcastle's character, they deserved their point.
"We should have won the match but we did not play as well as we have been because they did not allow us to play. I have nothing but praise for them.
"It is a real challenge now for the championship but we are a serious contender and points will be dropped by both teams."