RSS
|
Bolton travel to Birmingham looking to pick up only their second win of the season and lift themselves out of the bottom three. Both sides have struggled to get off to a good start so far this season, with the hosts only one point better off than Bolton, who have three from the first five games. With the UEFA Cup starting next week, Sammy Lee knows Bolton need a positive result to boost confidence ahead of the visit to Macedonia. Ricardo Gardner and Joey O'Brien are expected to be missing, despite returning to training after their respective injuries. Stelios Giannakopoulos is also back in training after missing the opening five games after having hernia surgery in the summer, but isn't expected to feature. Christian Wilhelmsson picked up a knock playing for Sweden last weekend, but he has shaken off a thigh injury and has been included in the squad. All the other international contingent came back without any problems, meaning Sammy Lee has a strong squad to chose from. El-Hadji Diouf is one of those who was on international duty, and should he feature, he will be making his 100th appearance for the club. Meanwhile, Steve Bruce will be without the services of captain Damien Johnson, who will be missing with a hamstring strain. Johnson is the only absentee from the squad and so Bruce may give a start to either Borja Oubina or Wilson Palacios after the duo signed for the Midlands club in the summer. Former Bolton defender Radhi Jaidi is expected to start in the heart of the Birmingham defence after recently becoming a first team regular at St.Andrews. Squads: Birmingham City: from: Maik Taylor, Kingson, Doyle, Parnaby, Martin Taylor, Jaidi, Schmitz, Ridgewell, Kelly, Larsson, Oubina, Palacios, Muamba, Nafti, Djourou, McSheffrey, Kapo, Forssell, O'Connor, Jerome Bolton Wanderers: from: Jaaskelainen, Hunt, Meite, O'Brien, Cid, Samuel, Wilhelmsson, Nolan, Speed, McCann, Alonso, Braaten, Harsanyi, Diouf, Anelka, Davies, Helguson, Al Habsi, Sinclair Referee: Phil Dowd boltonboi69.com's prediction: 1-1 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||