Alan Hansen’s Premier League Preview: Man City v Bolton
Manchester City host Bolton tonight with Roberto Mancini’s side determined to bounce back from a disappointing defeat at Hull at the weekend. The match at the KC Stadium saw both Patrick Vieira and Adam Johnson make their City debuts as second-half substitutes but it was the defence rather than the midfield that struggled against the Tigers.
Mancini has now lost two of his six league games in charge, the same amount lost by his predecessor Mark Hughes in the previous seventeen matches. Those statistics along with the recent Carling Cup defeat to rivals Manchester United has put real pressure on the Italian. Fortunately for Mancini, City have a home match tonight rather than another tricky away trip. I say fortunate as the Citizens have yet to be beaten at Eastlands this season and Bolton have not won away from the Reebok Stadium since September.
Manchester City have won their last five matches at home while scoring 14 goals. They’ve beaten the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal at Eastlands this season but have dropped points in draws with the likes of Burnley, Fulham and Hull. The Trotters may cause them problems at the back as City showed defensive vulnerability at the weekend particularly aerially. Hull’s Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink and Jozy Altidore were a real handful for Kolo Toure and Dedryck Boyata, so you can expect Owen Coyle to attempt to exploit that weakness through Kevin Davies.
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These teams played out a cracking 3-3 draw at the Reebok Stadium back in December as the Trotters led on three separate occasions. Carlos Tevez netted twice on that day and he will be the main threat to Bolton tonight as he has now scored six goals in his last five league appearances at Eastlands. Emmanuel Adebayor has now scored in his last two league games but surprisingly he has never scored against the Trotters in eight league appearances against them. You have to expect City to score at least once tonight as Bolton have not kept an away clean-sheet in their last eleven matches and just one in the last 23 on the road. City have lost just one of their last 21 home league matches (won 17), so are strong favourites for this one.
Manchester City have a good recent record against Bolton of one defeat in the last seven meetings in all competitions (3 wins). They’ve also won the last two league clashes with Bolton at Eastlands and I expect this to be another home win on this midweek’s Premier 10. One single winner scooped the entire £30,000 Premier 10 jackpot at the weekend as the lucky Birmingham City fan predicted all ten Premier League matches correctly. Could it be you this week?
Tags: Alan Hansen, Bolton, Football betting, Football Pools, Manchester City, online betting, Premier 10, Premier League
