Norwich City v Bolton Wanderers
Football: English Premier League
Saturday 4 February 2012 - Kick Off 3pm

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Norwich City

Norwich City were completely outclassed in their last game at Sunderland on Wednesday night, but they will be looking at this game as one of those that can very much help in reaching the magical 40 point mark in the League this season.

Even with a loss last time out, Norwich are still up in 11th place in the Premier League and could move back into the top half of the table with a win on Saturday. It has been an impressive season with the side showing consistency in their results at home and away to earn their 29 points so far. Norwich are 4-4-3 at Carrow Road this season, scoring 17 goals and conceding 15.

The Canaries had been unbeaten in their last 6 games in all competitions before the loss to Sunderland last time out. Norwich have actually failed to win any of their last 3 home games in the League, drawing the last two of those, since beating Newcastle United 4-2 here in early December. The team have actually won just 2 of their last 7 Premier League games here.

There are no new injury issues for Paul Lambert ahead of this League game.

Bolton Wanderers

Owen Coyle had been saying before Christmas that his side had been playing well and that the results were bound to follow, and he must be very happy to see his words coming true in recent weeks. The team have moved out of the relegation zone, but there is still a lot of hard work ahead if they want to still be a Premier League club come June.

Bolton are sitting in 17th place in the Premier League having earned 20 points this season, and that means they have 2 points more than Blackburn Rovers below them although they could be in the relegation zone come kick off if Blackburn had won in the early Saturday game at Arsenal. The Trotters have earned more points on the road than they have at home, going 4-0-7 in those games, scoring 14 goals and conceding 22.

A 0-0 home draw with Arsenal means Bolton have lost just 1 of their last 8 games in all competitions, although their last 4 games have all been played at the Reebok Stadium. Bolton were beaten 3-0 at Manchester United in their last League game away from home, but they had won back to back games at Blackburn and Everton before that. The team have not kept a clean sheet in their last 11 games away from home in all competitions.

Adam Bogdan is likely to continue in goal after recent appearances, while Tim Ream could be in line to make his debut after signing in this transfer window.

Head to Head

Norwich City beat Bolton Wanderers 1-2 at the Reebok Stadium earlier this season, but this will be their first trip to Carrow Road since the 2004/05 season.

The Canaries won 3-2 on that occasion and have only lost 1 of their last 4 home games against Bolton.

Prediction

I think this is going to be a difficult game for Norwich City simply because Bolton are clearly playing better at this moment than they were earlier this season.

However, Bolton are still having a few issues defensively, especially away from home where they have kept 1 clean sheet in the Premier League all season. However, the Trotters are performing well enough to score some goals themselves against a Norwich team that does struggle to keep the ball out of the net.

It is tough to see which side is going to come away with the points in this one, but I do expect a few goals should be scored as both sides can trouble defences and both have had a few issues defensively.

We would need a bit of luck, as we have seen that simply creating chances is not enough but someone needs to take these chances (look at Blackburn-Newcastle as a prime example of what happens when a team fails to take their chances). However, the statistics and recent form suggest this should be a high-scoring entertaining game for those who brave the cold on Saturday afternoon.

The Statistics :

The Pick :

Norwich City 2-2 Bolton Wanderers

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

I'll back Over 2.75 Goals @ 2.05 (Ladbrokes)