SAM Allardyce has warned his international stars to stay fresh and fit - or face the chop for the Euro showdown with Liverpool.

The Bolton boss reckons there will be no room for passengers at Anfield, where he aims to give the injury-ravaged Reds a real run for their money.

He insists past performances will be no guarantee of a place in the starting line-up.

All his returning internationals will undergo rigorous fitness checks before he even considers his team selection.

"We'll have to have a long, hard think about who's the freshest, who's the best and who's the most available to go into that Liverpool game," he said.

"Saturday's performance against Norwich will take a back seat in terms of the selection of players because it's important that the freshest, most capable side turns out against Liverpool.

"That's what we'll think about and try and make the right selections."

With 10 players on international duty over Easter, Allardyce will face an anxious wait before his squad assembles next Thursday, but his problems pale into insignificance compared with Liverpool boss, Rafa Benitez, who paid a high price for Sunday's 2-1 victory over Everton in the Merseyside derby and is likely to have none of his recognised strikers available.

Milan Baros starts a three-match ban after his red card for a horror tackle on Alan Stubbs while Fernando Morientes, Djibril Cisse, Florent Sinama-Pongolle, Harry Kewell and Neil Mellor are sidelined through injury. Luis Garcia is also struggling after picking up a knock.

Allardyce's biggest fear is that fatigue will affect key players such as Stelios (Greece), Tal Ben Haim (Israel) and Nicky Hunt (England U21s) who are all due to play two World Cup qualifiers in five days during the Premiership break.

Jay Jay Okocha was struggling with a hamstring injury before he joined up with the Nigeria squad for their crucial qualifier against Gabon on Saturday, but he will have a week to recover for the Liverpool game, as will Jussi Jaaskelainen (Finland), Radhi Jaidi (Tunisia), and the Senegal duo Khalilou Fadiga and El-Hadji Douf, who is suspended for the game anyway. All have just one game apiece in their respective World Cup groups.

Joey O'Brien has just one match scheduled with the Republic of Ireland U21s, but Ricardo Vaz Te has a more demanding programme with Portugal U19s, who are hosting a tournament involving Ukraine, Austria and Holland.