Stoke have won 2, drawn 1 and lost 2 so far this season (this is excluding their FA Cup win against Leyton Orient, it is Leyton Orient after all), which is markedly better than Bolton’s 1 draw and 3 losses, however I think last weekend’s win against Portsmouth will have rallied the team. Things have not been too happy over at the Reebok, what with all the booing fans, and Megson’s soulless gingerness and we definitely need to win at home (hopefully in front of people this time, our attendances have been exceedingly poor this season), things are getting too depressing. And an interesting, if fairly meaningless statistic: Stoke have not won a top flight game at the Reebok ever, and the last time they won away to the Wanderers was in 1963 at Burnden Park.

This has quite a bit to do with Stoke’s horrendous away form (last season they only got 10 points from away matches, only 6 of those 10 points were from wins). They are quite dangerous from set pieces which is definitely one of our weaknesses so we’ll have to watch out for that. I am pretty optimistic about this match, I reckon at the very least we can get a point, and fingers crossed for three. Ricardo Gardner should be coming back from injury and when he’s in form he adds so much to our ability to go forward with his wonderful long balls and connecting play. Hopefully we get another win and buoyed for our trip to Birmingham (doesn’t everyone need to be buoyed before a trip to Birmingham? It’s a pretty depressing city*) next weekend.

Saturday: Arsenal 2-0 Wigan, Aston Villa 1-0 Portsmouth, Bolton 2-1 Stoke, Burnley 1-1 Sunderland, Hull 0-0 Birmingham, West Ham 1-2 Liverpool
Sunday: Chelsea 3-2 Tottenham, Everton 2-1 Blackburn, Manchester United 4-3 Manchester City, Wolverhampton 1-3 Fulham

*Disclaimer: I’m sure Birmingham is perfectly nice if you’re not just zipping by it on the motorway. I don’t want to offend any Brummies.

So basically I have to get on a plane in about an hour and have somehow procrastinated til now to do my preview so it was be a bit rushed/short. I realize now that that time I took to do my nails last night, could’ve been spent doing this. Oh well, it all comes together in retrospect doesn’t it? Anyway here goes:

The Wanderers embark on the longest trip of the season to visit Portsmouth, who are also the only club below Bolton on the table (both teams with no points, Portsmouth with a -6 goal difference, and Bolton with -3). Portsmouth are one of the teams who I think really could go down, they haven’t looked convincing for about 6 months now and lost 10 senior players in the transfer window, including Sol Campbell, Peter Crouch, and Glen Johnson. Both teams will be desperate for points, Portsmouth having played four games with no points, and Bolton with three. Our performance against Liverpool was very encouraging, now all we need to do is bring the passion against one of the best clubs in the league to one of the worst.

Megson will have been hearing the chants from the stands, I’m sure he knows just how unpopular he is with the Bolton fans, and I think his job rests upon the performance of the team in the next 4 games (which are Portsmouth (A), Stoke (H), Birmingham (A), and Tottenham (H)). A weak Pompey team should prove just what Elmander needs to get his ego-boosting goal (I have the hope that if he can get just one goal, his confidence will build and he’ll start scoring more regularly). Also it will give our new signings a chance to shine against unconvincing oppo. So fingers crossed that this will be the game where the Wanderers get their confidence boosted and learn to play together.
1-3
I reckon our offense will finally click together, with two good goals after a first scrappy one, however I also tihnk our defense is a bit leaky so Portsmouth to pull one back. I know this is optimistic, but hey. as a Bolton fan I’ve got to look on the bright side!
Fratton Park is a great old stadium and the atmosphere should be good, so good luck to the fans making the 515 mile round trip! Sing loud for me!

The Blades have picked up one point in the past three games, and while this form is utter crap, the Whites haven’t picked up any in the past three. It’s actually a bit frightening going into this game. Six games ago there was talk of us with a chance of getting into European football. This idea has been scrambled and now we’re hoping to hang on to UEFA Cup Footy. Poor. Absolutely piss poor.

We will have Kevin Davies back, and hopefully he’ll be able to go a bit longer than he did against ManUre. We also hope to have Faye back from injury, however we will be without the great Ivan Campo. Campo picked up his tenth yellow card of the season, and consequently will miss this match against the Blades. On a lighter note, Hulse is out through injury. And let’s face it. Hulse was fifty-percent of that team.

Bolton Wanderers 2 – 0 Sheffield United. El-Hadji Diouf, and Anelka are due.

Saturday sees the fifth placed Wanderers take on a tip-top Manchester United side at Old Trafford. Bolton face an uphill battle, but it would be a little less steep with the help of Davies upfront. Unfortunately according to Big Sam, it’s probably a bit too soon to see Davies back in the line up as he “hasn’t been able to kick a ball” in the time that he’s been injured. Undoubtedly it would be too soon to see Davies back in. No need to jeopardize another injury facing an already tough match.

Although difficult, the Wanderers will look to put two recent defeats to Spurs and Blackburn behind them and do their best to collect at least a point from Man U. As much as I’d love to see the Whites take some points from the league leaders, and keep some distance between them and sixth place, I’m afraid it won’t happen. Three – one to Manchester United. Hope I’m wrong.