Fan Match Preview: Bolton vs Tottenham

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The Reebok has never been a happy hunting ground for us, the extra time League Cup win in 2004 being our only triumph there. Last season Kevin Davies’ late & typically hustle & bustle goal finished us off after we’d come back from two down. But with seventeen goals and four wins in our five away games this season we obviously go there this weekend with more than just hope.

The Trotters are thirteenth currently with seven points, only one of which was gained at home. Sunderland and Liverpool have already won there and Stoke drew. Bolton used to be a fearsome place to visit and a tough team to play against but like an aging pop band still touring, these days they look a bit like the real thing but don’t feel totally authentic. It’s Gary Megson’s job to get the fans to appreciate the new material and stop them calling for a repeat of the old classics but he’s struggling to win them over. The abuse he was getting from the away fans at WHL just under a year ago was astonishing. I’ve never heard supporters of a club lay into their own manager on that scale before or since. 

To go with our centre back injury problems we now have a mini striker crisis with Pavlyuchenko and Defoe both likely to miss the game which means that Crouch and Keane are the duo most likely to be asked to put putative transfer target Gary Cahill through his paces. Yet again Redknapp has interesting choices to make at centre back. Combine Bassong’s struggles against Cole and Folan earlier in the season with Bolton’s reputation as a big strong side then the temptation will be there to bring in Dawson and/or move Corluka over.  Or will he risk Huddlestone in defence again hoping that his comfort in possession outweighs his inexperience in that position? A tricky one, but that’s why he’s in charge.

The squad is of such a standard these days that even though on paper we’ve several first teamers missing, if you take squad rotation into consideration we’re really only one or two shy. Shy of goals we won’t be though and we’ve every chance of  coming home with another valuable three points.

PaddyPower: Bet on Spurs to beat Bolton Wanderers

By MF

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