THERE will be no gnashing of teeth or wringing of hands if Wanderers are knocked off their lofty perch.

No one expects them to get anything at Elland Road so anything they do get will be a bonus.

With nine points already in the bag, Sam Allardyce's shock troops have adopted a devil-may-care approach to a game which, when the fixtures were published in June, was one they did not dare relish.

Leeds United - fourth in the Premiership last season and top five finishers for the last four; beaten just twice in the league in 2001 and regarded as one of only a handful of clubs capable of mounting a serious challenge to the dominance of Manchester United.

Bolton Wanderers - promoted via the play-offs, relegated on each of their two previous Premiership excursions and, paupers by comparison, tipped as hot favourites to be bottom of the pile again next May.

Yet, if David O'Leary's all stars are any more relaxed than Wanderers, they will be comatose!

"We're more relaxed and more confident than we ever thought we'd be going into this game," Allardyce said, basking in the unexpected glory of his team's three-win start.

"We'll go there without any fear then the best will come out of my players.

"We'll show the same application, the same commitment, the same technical ability that we've seen in the last three games. Whether that will be good enough away from home against Leeds United, who will be one of the biggest threats to Manchester United this year, remains to be seen.

"But we've got the confidence to go into it and get a positive result."

Who would have thought it?

Not the players, not the supporters, not even the manager.

"We're all a little surprised," Allardyce admits, reflecting on the wins over Leicester, Middlesbrough and Liverpool that have given Wanderers their best top flight start for 110 years and put him streets ahead in the running for the Manager of the Month award.

"We didn't expect to win three Premiership games on the trot but, by the same token, we didn't expect to lose three.

"When you've beaten one of the top four, it makes people sit up and take notice and beating Liverpool in the prime of their form has got us a little more recognition but it's only three games and things can change very quickly.

"Coventry won two of their first three games last season and got relegated. So we can't assume anything."

Allardyce admits to paying more attention to the strengths (and weaknesses) of his opponents these days than he did last season when Wanderers quickly established themselves as a force in the First Division. He freely admits the priority will be to prevent multi-talented Leeds getting into their stride, leading one to assume that he will opt for a solid, organised midfield to assist a defensive unit that has conceded just one goal in 270 minutes of Premiership football.

"We were a little more adventurous last season," he explains. "By Christmas we'd proved to everybody, including ourselves, that we were one of the best three sides in the division. We took the opposition into account but we didn't go too far with it because we knew we were going to be better than them on the day.

"Now we have to spend more time on what the opposition do and how to nullify the internationals and multi-million pound talents they have.

"The players are now playing on a big stage. It's something they've looked forward to since May 28. They don't want to make fools of themselves and so far they are doing themselves proud.

"My job is to improve on what we've got and the best time to be doing that is while we are winning games."

Not for Allardyce then the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" philosophy. He is widely expected to change his winning hand tomorrow and by the time they kick off at Elland Road, the players should have an idea whether Spanish striker Kiko and French defender Bruno Ngotty will be joining their ranks.