RSS
|
Bolton travel to Manchester City with hopes of ending the hosts 100% home record so far this season. Wanderers have won on their last three visits to the City of Manchester Stadium, which included a highly convincing 2-0 victory last season, with both goals coming from former City striker Nicolas Anelka. Bolton have began to slowly rise up the table since Gary Megson's arrival in October, with the club currently sitting in 14th place in the Premier League. Megson has no fresh injury worries ahead of the trip and could opt to stick with the same side that beat Wigan 4-1 last Sunday. A man of the match performance from Nicky Hunt could see him start at right-back ahead of Jlloyd Samuel, with Ricardo Gardner continuing at left-back. Andy O'Brien and Abdoulaye Meite are expected to start the game in the heart of the Wanderers defence, with Lubomir Michalik on the bench. Captain Kevin Nolan scored his second goal of the season last weekend, and should feature alongside Danny Guthrie in midfield. Ivan Campo is expected to play in the holding roll from the start, with competition from Gary Speed, Gavin McCann, Christian Wilhelmsson and Stelios Giannakopoulos for the rest of midfield. The impressive trio of Anelka, El-Hadji Diouf and Kevin Davies will probably continue, with Anelka looking to continue his fine form against his former club. Manchester City manager Sven Goran Eriksson will be hoping to have Elano back for the game. The Brazilian scored the only goal of the game as City knocked Bolton out of the Carling Cup in October, slotting home a controversial penalty at the Reebok with less than five minutes to go. He has missed City's last two matches with a hamstring injury, but has returned to training this week in the hope of a recall to the first team. Stephen Ireland is suspended, which could allow Dietmar Hamann to reclaim his place in the side after missing the defeat at Tottenham through a suspension of his own. Darius Vassell and Rolando Bianchi both impressed at Spurs last weekend, but Emile Mpenza and Georgios Samaras will be hoping to prove themselves, but Emerson will be hoping to keep his place in the side. Squads: Manchester City: from: Isaksson, Corluka, Dunne, Richards, Garrido, Etuhu, Hamann, Fernandes, Johnson, Petrov, Elano, Vassell, Bianchi, Samaras, Geovanni, Hart, Onuoha, Jihai. Bolton Wanderers: from: Jaaskelainen, Al Habsi, Hunt, A O'Brien, Meite, Cid, Gardner, Giannakopoulos, Guthrie, McCann, Nolan, Alonso, Speed, Teymourian, Wilhelmsson, Davies, Anelka, Diouf, Samuel, Al Habsi, Michalik, Braaten. Referee: Peter Walton Burnden Aces prediction: 2-1 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||