Tottenham v Bolton: Defeat at the Lane Leave Trotters Wandering Dangerously Close to the Drop?
If Bolton do go down this season they’ll be a number of delighted Premier League clubs who’ve struggled against their direct, in your face style over the years. One such club will be Tottenham. The North London aristocrats have been on the wrong end of a number of bruising defeats against the Trotters in recent seasons and to knock them off next season’s Premier League fixture list will be particularly pleasing. However, just when Bolton’s future looked bleaker than John Arne Riise’s chances of a new Liverpool contract, the Trotters pulled off back to back wins and their chances of survival suddenly looks far brighter. The dilemma for Premier 10 players this week is do they back the home side’s superior class or the away side’s fighting spirit. Not an easy choice I must admit.
Spurs End of Season Malaise
Spurs have an appalling winless record at the Reebok in the last 11 years, they’ve lost 5 and drawn 6. However, in the last 2 seasons they’ve managed to tame the Bolton beast, at the Lane at least. They’ve won the last 2 encounters there including a 4-1 thrashing last season. Tottenham’s home record against the bottom five bar Birmingham is excellent. They’ve scored 4 past Derby, 5 past Fulham, 6 past Reading and even scored twice against Birmingham though they did lose rather unluckily 3-2. However, I don’t expect Juande Ramos side to go goal crazy this weekend due to both their current end of season malaise and the importance of this match to the Trotters. Tottenham haven’t won in their last 4 League matches and are on a run of 3 successive 1-1 draws against some of the divisions most average sides in Blackburn, Boro and Middlesbrough. They’ve also failed to win their last 2 matches at White Hart Lane (1 defeat) so confidence won’t be high.
Trotters Try but Fail to Keep Out Berbatov and co.
Bolton looked dead and buried prior to successive 1-0 wins over West Ham and Boro away but don’t expect them to make it 3 wins on the spin here. After all, gaining a clean-sheet at the Riverside is far easier than doing the same in goal-crazy North London. The Trotters had conceded 11 goals in their previous 4 away trips prior to the Middlesbrough win and I doubt their defence can resist Dimitar Berbatov and co. over 90 minutes. After all, the Bulgarian has scored 10 goals in his last 16 appearances in all competitions whilst Robbie Keane has scored 3 goals in his last 2 matches against Bolton. I therefore, expect Ali Al Habsi to be picking the ball out of his net on at least one occasion this weekend.
This is a tough Premier 10 match to predict due to Bolton’s sudden ability to pick up wins and Spurs inability to keep a lead. In fact, Tottenham have now dropped 33 points from winning positions this season - the joint highest amount in Premier League history. Despite this, I expect Spurs to win this weekend in front of their home crowd as Kevin Davies-less Bolton shouldn’t pose the home side too many defensive problems and Ramos’ team as per usual will score.
Pundit’s Pick: Bolton back in trouble after losing at the Lane (home win) Do you agree with this result for your Premier 10 prediction? Play Now>>
Tags: Bolton Wanderers, Premier 10 preview, Premier League, Spurs, Tottenham Hotspur, Trotters
