New Sunderland manager Steve Bruce has made some significant additions to the present side with a number of new recruits. The spine of the Black Cats team has made vastly improved with centre-half Paulo Da Silva, central midfielders Lorik Cana and Lee Cattermole plus new strikers Darren Bent and Fraizer Campbell all joining. Bruce has brought in players with both quality and good fighting instincts and there’s no doubt in my mind Sunderland will be much harder to beat this season.

Bolton manager Gary Megson hasn’t spent anywhere near the amount that Steve Bruce has but he has brought in four players of his own who also have good fighting spirit. Megson has bought British and although none of the new recruits are big names, they are all experienced Premier League players so will take little time to bed in.

If this match had come towards the end of last season, you would have more than likely backed Bolton to take the points. The stats backed this up with the Trotters having only lost of their last 8 league games at the Reebok and Sunderland failing to even score in 6 of their last seven away. However, this is very much a new look Black Cats team with Darren Bent sure to score goals alongside Kenwyne Jones in attack. Bent will be hungry to prove himself and will provide Sunderland with an end product that was lacking at times last season. Therefore, I am backing their new players to install an even greater work ethic, battling quality and end product into the side.

Despite the improvements Steve Bruce has made, I still think they may struggle to win this one. Bolton are less consistent than they were under Big Sam Allardyce but main striker Kevin Davies will always be a handful to any visiting defence.

I expect Steve Bruce’s team to do a lot better this season but after failing to win away in 2009, I’d back this one on Premier 10 to be a low scoring stalemate with both sides feeling their way into the new campaign.

Alan Hansen’s Premier 10 pick: DRAW

Read the rest of Alan’s previews below:

Tags: Alan Hansen, Bolton, Premier 10, Sunderland

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