By Mark Heys
November 30 2005

A place in the Carling Cup quarter final is at stake tommorow evening as Bolton Wanderers face Championship side Leicester City at the Reebok Stadium.

Wanderers are late entrants into this years competition due to their European commitments and their only game thus far has been a home win against West Ham United in the previous round last month.

The Foxes on the other hand have been in the competition since the opening round and have despatched of Bury, Blackpool and Cardiff City prior to their Reebok visit.

It is the first time in ten years that the two clubs have come together in this competition and it would be fair to say that both have had more than their fair share of ups and downs since then.

Changes are expected to be made to the two line ups as they both suffered contrasting results in their respective divisions over the weekend.

The Wanderers lost on the road at Fulham in the Premiership whilst Leicester recorded a morale boosting victory against Championship high fliers Sheffield United.

Sam Allardyce has hinted that he will hand Senegalese winger Khalilou Fadiga a rare start and there could also be places for Jared Borgetti, Martin Djetou, Nicky Hunt and former City goalkeeper Ian Walker.

Stelios Giannakopoulos was ruled out of the visit to the capital on Sunday due to a ankle injury picked up against Vitoria Guimaraes so it is touch and go as to whether or not he will be included.

Henrik Pedersen and Ivan Campo are still some way short of making a first team return after recent injuries so they are unlikely to be risked for this game against the Foxes.

Leicester manager Craig Levein may be without a number of players for the trip to Lancashire as Iain Hume and Ryan Smith are both cup tied having played in this competition for other clubs in previous rounds.

Hume has sent Wanderers out of the cup competitions on a previous occasion as he was part of the Tranmere Rovers team to dump Bolton out of the FA Cup with a wonder strike back in January 2004.

Australian goalkeeper Paul Henderson and one time Fulham striker Elvis Hammond are doubtful for this game as both suffered ankle injuries during a training session earlier on this week.

Victory for Bolton will see them edge ever closer towards another visit to the Millennium Stadium, a venue where they have suffered a mixture of joy and despair in recent years with the latter occasion coming in the final of this competition two seasons ago when losing out to Middlesbrough.

Leicester have won this trophy on three different occasions; the last time coming in the 1999-2000 season when the Foxes defeated Bolton's semi-final nemesis Tranmere Rovers so tommorow's game promises to be an all hands on deck contest.

LEAGUE CUP RECORD

07/10/1970 BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (Manning) LEICESTER CITY 1 (Farrington)

12/10/1970 LEICESTER CITY 1 (Sjoberg) BOLTON WANDERERS 0

24/10/1995 BOLTON WANDERERS 0 LEICESTER CITY 0

08/11/1995 LEICESTER CITY 2 (Roberts, Robins) BOLTON WANDERERS 3 (McGinlay, Sneekes, Curcic)

PREMIERSHIP FORM GUIDE:

Played: 4

Won: 1

Drawn: 2

Lost: 1

CONNECTIONS

Nathan Blake, Franz Carr, Les Ferdinand, Paul Fitzpatrick, Matt Gillies, Arnar Gunnlaugsson, Trevor Hebbard, Jim Hernon, Russell Hoult, Steve Howey, Ian Marshall, Kevin Poole, Peter Shilton, Nicky Summerbee, Gerry Taggart, Steve Thompson, Ian Walker, Gavin Ward, Mike Whitlow, Steve Whitworth, Frank Worthington.

IT HAPPENED WHEN BOLTON PLAYED LEICESTER

Australian goalkeeper Zjelko Kalac had a nightmare Foxes debut the last time these two sides met in this competition. He looked uneasy and unassured at everything Bolton threw at him and was later on his way to Dutch football soonafter. He has since bounced back and his now plying his trade with Milan in Serie A.

Sasa Curcic scored his first Wanderers goal against the Foxes in November 1995.

Mike Whitlow and Ian Marshall both played for Leicester in the League Cup Finals prior to making the move up to Bolton..