HENRIK Pedersen has told Sam Allardyce his hunger for goals makes him the the best man to take over from the banished El-Hadji Diouf.
Still Bolton's top scorer, despite not starting a Premiership game in 2005, the Dane is tipped for a return against Norwich.
Allardyce is not saying how he will adjust his line-up in the absence of Diouf, who starts a three-match ban for his sending off in the FA Cup defeat by Arsenal, but his assistant, Phil Brown, revealed how Pedersen had staked his claim personally during an appraisal session with Reebok backroom chiefs.
"Henrik said he's ready for the next nine games and that is what we wanted to hear," Brown said.
"It's easy saying that but there's an opportunity that he could be in the starting line-up. Then it's up to him.
"It's the perfect motivation for the management team, getting a player who is still top scorer who is telling you that he's hungry."
Pedersen, who has scored 10 goals, lost his Premiership place after the Reebok defeat by Blackburn on December 28, since when his only starts have come in the FA Cup against Ipswich and Fulham.
Despite signing a contract extension in November, his Wanderers days seemed numbered when he was one of seven players transfer-listed to raise funds in January.
He went on to score twice in the 3-1 win at Ipswich, but it has taken Diouf's suspension to get him back in the Premiership picture, although he still faces competition from Khalilou Fadiga and Ricardo Vaz Te.
"Henrik threw down the gauntlet to the manager when he scored the two against Ipswich, but he didn't kick on," Brown said. "Maybe now is the opportunity.
"Hopefully we will see that in the next nine games. Henrik's a player who scores in splashes, so let's hope the splash is going to come now."
Allardyce held his customary in-season appraisals with all his players this week and was assured that, far from being deflated by the Arsenal defeat, they are doubly-determined to push for a UEFA Cup place.
"There are a lot of positive vibe," Brown said. "We've given ourselves a great opportunity and we feel we've got the players with the experience to carry us across the winning line."
Victory over Norwich will give Wanderers the most successful 10-match sequence of their four-season Premiership run.
Allardyce divides each season into four sections - three phases of 10-games and one of eight - and sets points targets for each one. With 20 points from their last nine games and a target of 15 to 17 from the remaining nine, a three-point haul will set them up for the run-in.
"It couldn't be any simpler," Brown added. "We're looking to end phase three in a positiive manner to get us a platform to end the last phase as well as we possibly can and achieve what we set out to do at the start of the season."
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