Striker offers his thoughts ahead of Bolton's FA Cup clash at Anfield this weekend
Emile Heskey believes that Wanderers have every chance of progressing to the last 16 of the FA Cup come the final whistle at Anfield on Saturday evening.
Set to come up against his former employers of four years in Liverpool, the striker admitted that although the Reds will prove themselves a notable test for the Whites, he sees no reason why his current side cannot leave Merseyside with their name in the hat for the next round.
“It’s a massive game for us, but we’ve done our homework on them,” said the 37-year-old. “The gaffer has studied everything on them and he’s got the lads playing some decent football, so hopefully we can attack them and cause them some problems.
“It will be a difficult ask for us, but we’re going to go out there with a lot of confidence and hopefully we can cause an upset.”
He continued: “For me personally, I’m hoping I’ll get a good reception. The fans were brilliant to me while I was there and I’ve since been back and done some media with the club – they’ve been good to me.
“That said though, I’ll be going all out to get a result for Bolton and I believe we’ve got a good chance – at the end of the day, it is a cup game and they are all about surprises so we have a great chance to progress in the competition.”
Having signed with the club until the season’s conclusion last month, the experienced professional confessed that he is relishing his latest challenge having been exiled from the English game for two years during his recent stint with the Newcastle Jets in the Australian A-League.
“I came in and was thrown in the deep end a little bit,” he explained. “I’m still trying to find my feet now a bit!
“The manager has been great with me though, allowing me a few days off to get up to speed really. It’s been a bit of a whirlwind to say the least, but I’m enjoying every minute of it.
“The lads have been great with me, but it’s also been good to play with Eidur Gudjohnsen – not many strike partnerships have got a combined age of 73!
“It is nice though and he has got immense ability which he showed in his pass for my goal against Blackburn - not many players would have seen that pass, but he is showing that day in, day out in training and he’s a massive asset to the team.”