WANDERERS are the biggest story of the Premiership to date.

They top the table with a maximum nine points from three games and have taken the prized scalp of Gerard Houllier's Liverpool, the team hotly tipped to run Manchester United close for the title.

As one national newspaper correspondent put it: "My sports editor thinks Bolton are sexy at the moment!"

Yet Allardyce and his players still have only one objective in mind - survival.

Before the season started and while the rest of football had them marked down for an instant return to the Nationwide League, the Reebok boss set his team a safety target of 42 points. The sooner they achieved it, the sooner they could relax and express themselves as a team.

And while they have made a flying start (it took them until October 26 - 11 games into the season - to collect nine points in 1997-98 campaign) they are refusing to revise their objective.

"It's still early days yet," Gudni Bergsson cautioned, "but we'll look at the league table and enjoy it while it lasts.

"It's important to get as many points in the bag as soon as we can to get the confidence going but we know there's a long road ahead."