English Premier
2012-03-24 - Bolton Wanderers vs Blackburn Rovers
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: English Premier League
Saturday 24 March 2012 - Kick Off 3pm
Bolton Wanderers
All the thoughts of the Bolton Wanderers management and staff were on Fabrice Muamba after the midfielder collapsed in the game against Tottenham Hotspur last week. It was some great news that it looks like Muamba is on the road to recovery and that means Bolton now have to concentrate on trying to retain their position in the Premier League with a huge game against local rivals Blackburn Rovers.
Owen Coyle made it clear that any player that requests to sit out this game will be given permission, but that seems unlikely after Muamba's family made it clear they want Bolton to play and win for the player. The Trotters dropped into the relegation zone during the week after QPR beat Liverpool at home, and they are 2 points from Rangers with an extra game to play. Bolton are 3-2-9 at the Reebok Stadium this season, scoring 17 goals and conceding 28, giving them the second worst home defence in the League so far.
The game on Tuesday night against Aston Villa was rightly called off with Muamba's condition still in a critical phase, and that means the team have not played since the 2-1 win over QPR here a couple of weeks ago. That was an important win for Bolton as they had lost 4 straight games in the Premier League, while failing to win any of 5. Bolton have picked up 8 points from their last 15 available from games played at the Reebok Stadium.
Chris Eagles is a doubt for the home side with a hamstring injury, while it seems unlikely any players will pull out despite Owen Coyle offering that option.
Blackburn Rovers
I will be the first to admit that I thought Blackburn Rovers were going to be in deep trouble back around Christmas, but Steve Kean has really turned things around at Ewood Park and that is all credit to the manager. It is funny what a couple of wins can do for a team, but this remains a huge game in terms of relegation.
Blackburn earned a huge three points against Sunderland on Tuesday night which pushed them 5 points clear of Bolton in the relegation zone, but that still means this game is very important to Rovers. The team have a 2-6-6 record away from home this season, scoring 20 goals and conceding 33, which means Rovers have the worst away defence in the League so far.
The team have picked up back to back wins in the Premier League and have now earned 10 points from the last 15 available to move away from the relegation zone. Blackburn had lost away games at Arsenal and Manchester City, but a 0-2 win at Wolves in their last away game was a huge result for the team.
There are no new injury worries to concern Steve Kean ahead of this game.
Head to Head
Bolton Wanderers earned a big 1-2 win at Blackburn Rovers over Christmas.
Bolton beat Blackburn here 2-1 last season, but they had failed to win in 11 games in all competitions against their local rivals at home before that result.
Before that loss last season, Blackburn had won 3 out of 4 games at the Reebok Stadium.
Prediction
The one element of this game that we can not really understand is how the Bolton players will be feeling after all the events of the last seven days- personally I am of the view that they are going to be completely up for the game and will want to win the game for Fabrice Muamba, especially now he seems to be on the road to recovery.
Both teams are going to see this as an important game in their bid to make sure they are playing Premier League football next season, although there will be more pressure on the home team as they look to claw themselves back above QPR and drag Blackburn back towards the danger zone.
Bolton have been playing a lot better at the Reebok Stadium in recent games, but Blackburn have been in very good form themselves which makes it tough to predict a winner between the teams.
However, I do think there will be goals on Saturday afternoon as neither team can really point to their defence being the difference maker, even if Blackburn have kept consecutive clean sheets in their last two League games.
I expect both sides will push forward in search of goals in this game as the rewards for winning the game are so great at this stage of the season and so the odds against for the overs looks tempting enough to take a chance on.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Bolton Wanderers 2-2 Blackburn Rovers
FIXED ODDS BETTING TIP :
I'll take Over 2.75 Goals @ 2.00 (188Bet)
