All the match talk has been dominated by protests, which is fair, but let’s move onto football for a bit, because that’s what we’d rather be talking about. Tomorrow Bolton host West Brom. There are a lot of opposites here, and not in a good way, we’re near the bottom, they’re near the top. We struggle for goals, they love to score goals. But we are looking to do the double over the Baggies, such is the way of football sometimes.
🎥 On camera. Ahead of Monday evening's @SkyBetChamp home clash with @WBA, manager Phil Parkinson spoke to https://t.co/oVVl0dtnLo.
See a snippet below, with the gaffer commending the U18's performance in the @FA Youth Cup last night.
👉🏻 https://t.co/eOi3to40JW #BWFC 🐘🏰 pic.twitter.com/NoOhbgPFB5
— Bolton Wanderers (@OfficialBWFC) January 20, 2019
Team news
Ben Alnwick is struggling with a hip problem, which could mean Remi Matthews could go straight into the starting lineup after his return to the north west. Joe Williams and Yanic Wildschut are both injured. Jack Hobbs, Andy Taylor, Gary O’Neil and Marc Wilson are all either back in training or near there. For the opposition, Jake Livermore is suspended, while Harvey Barnes has returned to parent club Leicester, but Matt Phillips may have recovered sufficiently from an ankle injury.
Stats and facts
We’ve lost just one of our last 13 against West Brom at home, a 1-0 defeat in January 2000. The last time we hosted them was in May 2012, when we catastrophically blew a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2 in the penultimate game of a relegation season.
The reverse fixture was played on the opening day of the season, when Josh Magennis and Yanic Wildschut scored in a 2-1 win at the Hawthorns.
We’ve scored the fewest home goals in the division, however WBA have kept just three clean sheets all season. Only Ipswich have failed to keep more.
Prediction
Apparently, we have a good record with games played on a Monday. But I don’t expect it to carry on here. 1-2.