Bolton end a busy February tomorrow when they make the long trip to Norwich. Wanderers managed to pull clear of the drop zone when they beat Sunderland on Tuesday and come into this match with a four-point buffer between themselves and the relegation zone. Just as well, considering how we are away.
“The expectations on us are quite low. I`m not sure whether that`s a good or a bad thing, but the most important thing is the points tally and where we are at the moment is looking better.”
Phil Parkinson in the Bolton News.
Not sure!
He`s become Norwich`s key man – in last week`s East Anglian Derby Ipswich basically resorted to try and kick him throughout the second half. We need to have a plan for him.
Mark Little`s suspension continues, while Karl Henry is also out having picked up a 10th yellow card of the season. Josh Vela is still injured, Darren Pratley could make a comeback, but new signing Jan Kirchhoff won`t be ready to play tomorrow.
If he does start again, Aaron Wilbraham needs to actually start putting in a performance. The veteran once played for Norwich, helping the Canaries into the Premier League back in 2011.
Bolton`s last trip to Carrow Road was in 2014. Cameron Jerome scored for them twice before Lee Chung-yong scored late on in vain as we lost 2-1.
The reverse fixture was back in November. We were the 2-1 winners that day, when Gary Madine and Adam Armstrong scored first half goals. Josh Murphy scored deep into injury-time, but it was far too late to worry.
Norwich have scored injury time equalisers in their last two games, against Ipswich and Wolves.
Norwich have lost just two of their last nine home games, Bolton have won just one away all season.
We`re away. Defeat. Next question. In all seriousness though, maybe we`ll have a bit of freedom tomorrow knowing we can`t drop lower than 20th, but we`ll likely still be beaten at a ground where we`ve struggled the last few visits. 2-1 to them.
We play Preston at home next week, before a midweek trip to Reading.