Keane stars in Reds win

Liverpool celebrated being top of the table at Christmas with an impressive 3-0 victory over Bolton.

Irishman nets twice in 3-0 victory

Liverpool celebrated being top of the table at Christmas with an impressive 3-0 victory over Bolton. The Reds dominated the first half and Albert Riera opened the scoring from Steven Gerrard's corner in the 26th minute. Robbie Keane then doubled Liverpool's advantage with a fine finish early in the second half and the Irishman added another moments later. Keane could not complete his hat-trick despite staying on the pitch for the full 90 minutes, but Bolton rarely threatened in the closing stages.

Threat

The teams made a quiet start and neither goalkeeper was troubled until Argentinian full-back Emiliano Insua forced Bolton's Jussi Jaaskelainen into a fine save with a 20-yard volley from a Steven Gerrard corner. Moments later, Dutch forward Dirk Kuyt wasted a golden chance to open the scoring when he wastefully headed Xabi Alonso's cross over the bar from just inside the penalty area. With only Johan Elmander up front, Bolton had little attacking threat with which to worry Liverpool and the home side continued to dominate possession, so it was no surprise when Riera made it 1-0 in the 26th minute. Bolton defender Jlloyd Samuel, who started the game badly, made another mistake when he allowed Riera to escape at the near post and volley Gerrard's corner past the helpless Jaaskelainen. With Bolton's resistance broken, there appeared little hope of Gary Megson's team summoning the quality required to get themselves back into the game and Liverpool were able to push forward in search of more goals. And a second almost came from the unlikely source of Jamie Carragher's left boot in the 41st minute. The defender, making his 551st appearance for Liverpool, had only managed five previous goals for the club, but his 25-yard effort only missed by a matter of inches.

Tempo

Bolton manager Megson replaced Samuel with striker Kevin Davies at half-time in a bid to increase his team's attacking threat, but it made no difference as Liverpool merely upped the tempo. And the crucial second goal came in the 53rd minute when Keane beat Jaaskelainen with an unstoppable left-foot strike into the top corner after latching onto Gerrard's through-ball. From being on the verge of being written off as an expensive flop, Keane now appears to be finding form at just the right time, especially with hamstring victim Fernando Torres still not fit enough to return to action. And the Irish forward scored again five minutes later to take his league tally to five goals when he finished off a breathtaking move, started by goalkeeper Jose Reina and followed by Alonso and Yossi Benayoun, with a tap-in from six yards.

Liverpool	Team Statistics	Bolton Wanderers
3	Goals	0
1	1st Half Goals	0
6	Shots on Target	1
10	Shots off Target	1
7	Blocked Shots	0
16	Corners	3
9	Fouls	13
4	Offsides	0
1	Yellow Cards	3
0	Red Cards	0
86.9	Passing Success	64.9
14	Tackles	22
71.4	Tackles Success	72.7
74	Possession	26
60.8	Territorial Advantage	39.2