Liverpool's hopes of FA Cup progress have been boosted by rules that will prevent seven Bolton players from facing them in Wednesday's fourth-round replay.
Ben Amos, Adam Le Fondre, Rochinha, Barry Bannan, Simeon Slavchev, Filip Twardzik and Saidy Janko are all barred from facing the Reds at the Macron Stadium.
Those seven players were signed by Bolton manager Neil Lennon after his side had earned a replay by drawing 0-0 at Anfield on Jan. 24. However, FA Cup rule 15(f) states that players can only figure in a replay if they were registered with a club in time for the original tie.
Le Fondre is also ineligible because he played in the third round of the competition for Cardiff, who loaned him to Bolton on Jan. 26. Rule 15(e) bars a player from featuring in the FA Cup for more than one club in a season.
Lennon signed Portugal under-19 international Rochinha on loan from Benfica on Jan. 27, three days before goalkeeper Amos came in from Manchester United, also on loan.
Lennon then signed four players on Monday -- buying Czech Republic youth international Twardzik from Celtic, as well as making three loan signings in Bulgaria midfielder Slavchev from Sporting Lisbon, Bannan from Crystal Palace and Janko from United.
With seven players injured, Lennon faces being without 14 members of his squad for the game against Liverpool.
Among the absentees will be goalkeeper Adam Bogdan, who made a series of excellent saves to keep a clean sheet in the first game at Anfield. Bogdan has been ruled out for six weeks with an ankle injury suffered in training last Friday.
Former Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, meanwhile, is also struggling with a hamstring problem.
The winner of Wednesday's clash will visit Palace in the fifth round of the competition.