Stelios positions Bolton to steal Merseyside thunder

All eyes are on Merseyside today as Liverpool attempt to erode Everton's seven-point lead in the race to finish in fourth place in the Premiership.

All eyes are on Merseyside today as Liverpool attempt to erode Everton's seven-point lead in the race to finish in fourth place in the Premiership.

But should the local rivals become too consumed with affairs parochial, do not be surprised to see Bolton Wanderers slip past both and make their European bow in not the Uefa Cup but the Champions' League.

For a few hours more at least, Bolton are in possession of fifth place, above Liverpool and only five points behind Everton, following last night's victory over Norwich City.

Stelios Giannakopoulos's first-half curling shot into the top corner was a goal worthy of winning any game and his team have now lost only one of their last 10 in the Premiership.

As for Norwich, their stop in the top flight is surely destined to be a one-season affair. Still without a win away from Carrow Road, they are now four points adrift at the foot of the table and six points away from safety - even though they contributed much to this game.

El Hadji Diouf was serving the first game of his three-match ban for his red card against Arsenal last week so the Bolton manager, Sam Allardyce, brought in Vincent Candela to play at full-back, with Ricardo Gardner ahead of him.

But for all of Diouf's various examples of indiscipline, Bolton are a better side when he plays, which is why Allardyce has been so reluctant to jettison the two-time African footballer of the year.

That much was apparent last night as Bolton struggled to create openings against the division's most porous defence. In fact it was Norwich who looked the more dangerous in open play.

Despite their awful away record, Norwich breaks, often instigated by Darren Huckerby, were rapid and purposeful. The best saw Dean Ashton break clear down the right before crossing to the feet of Leon McKenzie, with his back to goal. The forward set up Damien Francis for a shot from 12 yards that flashed narrowly wide of the post.

It was the first of two clear opportunities for Francis, who later found himself through on goal, but was unable to beat Jussi Jaaskelainen.

For Bolton, Fernando Hierro's delivery of free-kicks was consistently excellent and the veteran Spaniard even came close to scoring when Gary Speed presented him with a cushioned pass 20 yards out, only to see him drag his shot just wide.

When Bolton did go ahead just before half-time, it was with a strike of rare quality from Stelios. The Greek international's left-wing corner was cleared back to him and he cut inside Graham Stuart before bending a shot from the corner of the area beyond Robert Green.

From a similar position a minute later, Candela then struck the crossbar as Norwich struggled to clear their scrambled senses.

In the second half, Norwich competed gamely without coming close to an equaliser. Bolton were largely content to play on the break and another Hierro shot, this time a volley that Green turned around the post, represented their best effort.

It was an impressive demonstration of how to kill off a game - an art that will be particularly useful should they go on to clinch that precious European place at the end of the season.