TEAM NEWS Bolton midfielder Darren Pratley will miss Wednesday's FA Cup replay against Liverpool with a torn hamstring. Strikers Craig Davies and Emile Heskey are battling hamstring problems, while goalkeeper Adam Bogdan (ankle) is out. Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard is fit to make his 700th club appearance after being rested against West Ham at the weekend because of a tight hamstring. Daniel Sturridge, injured for five months before scoring in Saturday's 2-0 win, is likely to be on the bench. MATCH PREVIEW Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has indicated he will make several changes for the FA Cup trip to Bolton to keep his team fresh for a busy February. Wednesday's fourth-round replay is the first of a minimum of five matches in 23 days for Rodgers' side - and that tally will rise to six if they win at the Macron Stadium and secure an fifth-round tie at Crystal Palace. Liverpool visit Merseyside rivals Everton on Saturday, and there are further Premier League matches against Tottenham and Southampton, as well as a two-legged Europa League round-of-32 tie against Turkish side Besiktas. "When you have so many games you have to plan forward and look at that but I always believe the next game is very important and I will always pick a team I think can win the game," Rodgers said. "It will be a tough game for us. We have a big month coming up and we want to continue in the cup competitions as well as keeping the momentum going in the league. "Where I need to change and rotate I will do that but the objective is still the same, to get three points or get through to the next round." Championship side Bolton earned a replay with a 0-0 draw at Anfieldon 24 January, but are beset by injury problems, while seven of manager Neil Lennon's transfer window signings are ineligible because they were not registered for the first tie. Ben Amos, Adam Le Fondre, Rochinha, Barry Bannan, Simeon Slavchev, Filip Twardzik and Saidy Janko are unable to play. Lennon has said the return from injury of Liverpool's Sturridge - who scored eight goals in 12 games during a loan spell at Bolton in 2011 - could cause his team problems. "He's been missed, there's no question of that," he said. "He'll be hungry to play and that's obviously very dangerous for us. "I think he walked round the back of the goal in the first tie and got a huge reception from the Bolton fans. Speaking to the chairman about him, he said he was fantastic here so I think he'll get a nice reception. But if he scores that might change a little bit." http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30991161
So the police were thwarted in their attempt to get the kick off for the Derby drought forward. Can anyone else picture that any small incident will be exacerbated and exaggerated by them, just so they can say "We told you so". Odds ****ing on Bent twats
Not sure how I feel about this to be honest - I don't consider FA Cup to be priority so I'll be happy to play the likes of Lovren, Gerrard and co to ensure we keep the core players fresh. We've had a good spell recently but we've also had some nice fixtures combined with no Europe. It will be interesting to see how Rodgers copes with playing 2 games a week for the next 2 months.
Wish you guys would stop focusing on minor issues when I've provided such a great in-depth match thread
I think this competition is our only real chance of winning silverware this season now we're out of the League Cup. Given the option, I'd prioritise winning the Europa League over everything else (apart from winning the league of course) but I just don't see that as a realistic outcome.
