Everton V Bolton Wanderers
Football : England : Premier League
Saturday 20th March – Kickoff 3pm

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David Moyes celebrates 8 years in charge of Everton, as he hosts fellow Glaswegian and friend Owen Coyle, who is just beginning his spell in charge of Bolton.

The last match was a cracker; so can this one match up?

Everton

Everton lie 9th, and must win here to get back in touch with the pack chasing the elusive 4th place. The scouse club are on an 8 match unbeaten run; with the last 6 all wins. Their last home match was a 5-1 walloping of Hull, but Bolton will no doubt prove to be tougher opposition.

Moyes doesn’t have any fresh injury worries for the visit of Bolton. Senderos is still out of the defence and Fellaini, who scored in the reverse fixture, is also out due to his ankle injury. All others are fit and the squad will be boosted by the return of top scorer Saha, who also scored at Bolton earlier this season. It’s welcome news to the fans, who will be sad to lose Donovan back to LA Galaxy as his loan cannot be extended.

Everton’s last game was at Birmingham, and the team have to look at it as 2 precious points lost. The team, who have made it a habit of regularly salvaging points when trailing, jumped out to an early 2-0 lead but this time the shoe was on the other foot as they let Birmingham back in to steal a point at 2-2. You can rest assured Moyes will have his team focused, making sure they don’t repeat that mistake.

Bolton Wanderers

Bolton have been on a bit of a tear recently, winning 3 of their last 4 games to pull away from the relegation dogfight. They currently lie 13th and will be looking to keep the momentum going after drilling 4 goals past Wigan. Coyle’s side were ruthless on the counter attack, and tore past the Wigan defence in a quite uncharacteristically solid performance.

However, this game is not at the Reebok, so a look at Bolton’s away form is warranted. And it’s not pretty. Bolton have lost 5 of their past 7 outings while managing just one goal in 4 of their last 5 away days. Their away tally stands at a limp 14 and their came back from their last away game, at Sunderland, having been tonked 4-0.

Coyle has done well in his start here as manager but his side clearly struggle away from home; and while they’ve done well to pull 8 points clear of the drop to give themselves breathing room, they will have to wait to continue their journey to safety.

THe Betting Verdict :

Everton lost the reverse tie in heartbreaking fashion. Having come back from 2 goals down to level the tie, they went down to an 87th minute winner from Bolton.

Revenge is the name of the game here, and Everton will get the win that cements this as the best form the Merseysiders have been on in 20 years.

Saha and Yakubu the men to watch as the home side romps home.

The Statistics :

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Take Everton to win at 1.55 (Pinnacle) – Main Bet

Or consider Over 2.5 goals @ 1.90 (Pinnacle)

HANDICAP BETTING :

Handicap punters should take Everton AH (-1) @ 1.91 (Bet365) - Main Bet