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Bolton vs CHELSEA: Preview

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Venue: The Reebok Stadium

Date: Sunday, 2 October

Kick-off: 1330 BST

 

Whilst the focus is well and truly on Manchester so far this season, after a spluttering start, we’ve gradually improved under Andre Villas-Boas and with the heat off us, we seem to be going quietly about our business now.

AVB has been brave enough to make decisions when he’s had to and with the addition of Juan Mata to the squad, even Fernando Torres has started to pick up.  Apparently Torres is missing for a few games now – think someone mentioned a red card or something – although Didier Drogba is probably chomping at the bit for a game after his spell out with concussion.

 

 

MANAGERS’ VIEWS

Ahead of today’s early kick-off, Owen Coyle seems to have focused on his mate Andre, saying “Ultimately he is a winner. I saw that when we did our pro-licence together.  This is not somebody who thought “I’ll go to Scotland on a whim and do a coaching badge, and then I might come back a year later.”  This is somebody who knew exactly how they wanted to plan their future development, to go from one year to another to progress.  That emphasises how meticulous he is in his preparation, and that goes for everything.  I think all of us on the course could see that.

As a group we all liked him, we all took to him, and I certainly felt he was somebody driven to succeed, very good at what they do and obviously wanting to progress.  And like anybody else, because we all crave the same thing, if an opportunity did arise then I felt pretty sure he would take it, and he has done. He has become an outstanding manager.

He is an absolute gentleman.  Under Jose he had a fantastic set-up to learn, but when you sit down with him as well, you find he is a gem.  He is somebody whose company you like. You could sit and chat with him all night about football, and any other topic, because he is a very intelligent man as well.  And what a lot of people might not know about him is he has a very good sense of humour.  He joined in with the banter, gave as good as he got, and we liked that about him. He didn’t take himself too seriously.   If you give a bit of stick you have to take some as well. We all did that openly with a big smile on our face, and he was a big part of that.   I became very good friends with him on the back of that, and he is somebody I’ve a lot of time for, and because of that I’m looking forward to Sunday.”

Andre Villas-Boas on Coyle says “We’re always exchanging ideas. He put me under a lot of pressure to let him have Daniel Sturridge back on loan this season. There must have been 20 or 30 messages but I told him, ‘definitely not’. “I’m sure he’ll try again in January. But there is no chance.  Whilst on today’s opponents, the Chelsea manager says “Things are not going for Bolton as Owen would want this season, that’s for sure. But he’s a demanding, driven and focused person and Bolton will come out of this soon.  Bad phases can happen to anyone in football. But one or two wins and Bolton will soon be moving back up the table.”

 

 

SQUAD NEWS

For Bolton, they already have a few long-term injuries, Holden (knee) faces another six months before he’s back, Wheater and Klasnic are suspended and Jaaskelainen (leg) is given as a doubt. Gael Kakuta is ineligible to face us.

For Chelsea, Essien (knee) remains out long-term, Hilario (hip & back) is out and Torres starts his three game suspension, although Sturridge (knee) could be back in the squad.

 

 

TEAMS

BOLTON (from): Jaaskelainen, Steinsson, Cahill, Knight, Eagles, Robinson, Muamba, Reo-Coker, Petrov, K Davies, Tuncay, Bogdan, Gardner, M Davies, Pratley, Ngog, Blake.

CHELSEA (from): Cech, Ivanovic, Bosingwa, Alex, Ferreira, Terry, Luiz, Cole, Bertrand, McEachran, Mikel, Romeu, Ramires, Lampard, Meireles, Mata, Malouda, Drogba, Anelka, Sturridge, Lukaku, Kalou, Turnbull.

 

 

LAST SEASON

Bolton 0-4 Chelsea (24th January 2011)

 

 

PREDICTION

So, we’re unbeaten in our last 15 against Bolton, winning the last six and scoring 18 without reply in our last eight games at the Reebok. Bolton haven’t managed a goal against us in our last five league and cup games and currently have the worst defensive record in the Premier League (16 goals conceded in 6 games).  Having said that, we’ve only managed one clean sheet in the league so far this season and have won just one from our last five away games in the league. A formality at the Reebok or not then?

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