The Hindu : Sport / Football : Liverpool beats Bolton

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Liverpool beats Bolton

Boost chances of top four finish

LONDON: Liverpool won a second straight Premier League football game for the first time in more than two months on Sunday when it beat Bolton 3-1.

Bolton goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen deflected a shot by Steven Gerrard into his own net in the first half and Ryan Babel and Fabio Aurelio scored in the second to give Liverpool 50 points from 27 matches.

Liverpool needed the victory to boost its chances of finishing in the top four and securing a spot in next season’s Champions League. And with an extra week to prepare for a match at Inter Milan in this season’s competition, manager Rafa Benitez fielded a strong team including Fernando Torres, Gerrard and Javier Mascherano.

El Hadji Diouf almost put Bolton ahead in the fifth minute when he hit the post with a curling free kick from about 40 metres (yards), but Liverpool took the lead seven minutes later.

Gerrard shot weakly toward goal but his effort was heading wide until Jaaskelainen dived for it, causing the ball to flip back over his body and into the net.

Jaaskelainen then saved shots from Babel and Gerrard to keep his team in the game, but the visitors went ahead 2-0 in the 60th.

Liverpool forced a string of corners before Dirk Kuyt hit the post off a cross by Jamie Carragher. The ball rolled to Babel on the edge of the area and the Netherlands forward scored with a low shot.

Aurelio stretched his team’s advantage 15 minutes later when he controlled the ball on his chest and volleyed past Jaaskelainen from the edge of the area.

Substitute Tamir Cohen, the son of former Liverpool player Avi Cohen, scored with a header to get a late goal back for Bolton, which has 25 points and is only above the relegation zone on goal difference. The results: Bolton 1 (Cohen 79) lost to Liverpool 3 (Jaaskelainen 12-og, Babel 60, Aurelio 75); Everton 3 (Yakubu 1, 81, Cahill 73) bt Portsmouth 1 (Defoe 38). — Agencies

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