English Premier
2010-11-06 - Bolton Wanderers vs Tottenham Hotspur
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football : English Premier League
Saturday 6 November 2010 - Kickoff 12:45pm
This game is live on TV
Bolton Wanderers
Bolton Wanderers will be hoping to bounce back from a disappointing defeat last Sunday against Liverpool here at the Reebok Stadium, the first time they had failed to score in the Premier League since the opening day of the season.
Owen Coyle's team are 11th in the Premier League, picking up 12 points from their opening 10 games, and while safety is the first priority this season, the fans are expectant that Bolton can push up the table for the first time since Sam Allardyce was in charge here.
Bolton have proven tough to beat this season, both at home and away, and they are 1-3-1 at the Reebok Stadium this season. Bolton have scored 6 goals and conceded 6 goals in theose games.
The defeat to Liverpool was Wanderers first loss in 6 Premier League games, although they had drawn 4 of the previous 5 games before that. Bolton have been blanked twice at home this season, but have scored 2 goals in each of the other 3 games there.
There are no new injury worries for Owen Coyle since last Sunday but Martin Petrov is in line to return and could replace Matthew Taylor.
Possible Bolton Wanderers Line Up:
Jaaskelainan, Steinsson, Robinson, Knight, Cahill, Muamba, Holden, Lee, Petrov, Davies and Elmander (4-4-2)
Tottenham Hotspur
All the talk this week surrounded Tottenham's stunning 3-1 win over Inter Milan at White Hart Lane, with Gareth Bale being singled out for particular praise after giving Maicon another torrid time. Spurs feel like the club is going places and will have to resist potential big money offers coming in for their flying Welshman over the next year or so.
While the European campaign has been exciting and successful so far, Harry Redknapp will be aware that his side need to stay in contention with the leading pack in England if they wish to play in the Champions League on a regular basis.
Spurs have been a little inconsistant in the Premier League, picking up 15 points so far and finding themselves 10 points behind leaders Chelsea. Tottenham are 2-1-2 away from home, scoring 5 goals and conceding 6.
The win on Wednesday night was the first for Spurs in 4 games in all competitions and they had gone into that game after losing 2 of 3. Spurs have lost their last 2 away games at Old Trafford and the San Siro, but perhaps more concerning is the 1 win from 7 away games in all competitions since beating Stoke City in the League. They have a 3-1-1 record in the game after playing in the Champions League this season.
Rafael Van der Vaart was pulled off at half time against Inter as he was feeling the hamstring that saw the Dutchman go off early last week at Old Trafford. His situation for the weekend is not clear at this moment.
Heurelho Gomes is likely to regain his place in goal after serving suspension in midweek- Gomes will surely want to get the memory of the United game last week out of the system.
Possible Tottenham Hotspur Line Up:
Gomes, Hutton, Assou-Ekotto, Gallas, Kaboul, Huddlestone, Modric, Lennon, Bale, Van der Vaart and Crouch (4-5-1)
Head to Head
Tottenham have only suffered 1 defeat to Bolton in their last 9 games in all competitions. However, the teams have not been able to be separated in 4 of those games, and Spurs do not have the most success when playing here at the Reebok Stadium.
In fact, Spurs have won just 1 game at this stadium in 9 visits and have failed to do so in their last 7 here. They have not won in 9 Premier League games away at Bolton and Spurs have lost 6 of their last 8 visits here.
A strange statistic to consider is this: Bolton have scored in 33 straight League games at home against Tottenham.
Prediction
Another nice lunch time treat for us to enjoy this weekend as the cameras roll into the Reebok Stadium for the Saturday afternoon game. Both sides play good football under their managers and should make this an attacking, entertaining game.
Bolton have been playing well, and were unfortunate not to get more out of the game last weekend. Elmander and Davies are a handful up front and they get enough service to cause problems. Spurs are another side that likes to play attacking football with 2 out and out wingers.
I think an interesting point here is that Spurs have conceded first in each of their last 4 games following a Champions League fixture. Adding that factor to the fact that Bolton have scored in 8 Premier League games, while conceding in 9, as well as Spurs' successful results following a Champions League night, and I will pick 'Both Teams to Score'.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Bolton Wanderers 2-2 Tottenham Hotspur
FIXED ODDS BETTING TIP :
Take Both Teams to Score @ 1.72 (Bet365)
