Prediction: Bolton vs Tottenham

5th November 2010

Bolton ended a nice string of results as they were beaten at home by Liverpool and the Trotters now face another difficult match as they play host to high-flying Tottenham. The massive victory over Champions League winners Inter has erased a couple of under-par performances in the Premiership with the Spurs now brimming with confidence as they prepare for the trip up north.

Bolton fans can be pretty satisfied with team’s performances and results this season as the Owen Coyle regime and the new style of play is clearly a sight for sore eyes following Gary Megson’s reign, so there is plenty of reason for optimism at Reebok Stadium. The Trotters have been playing pretty well lately, although their four-match unbeaten run came to an abrupt end as they lost at home to struggling Liverpool, so the defeat could serve as a small blow to the player’s confidence, especially with the Reds scoring the winner so late into the game. Owen Coyle’s men now probably face even bigger task against a side coming to Reebok fresh from outclassing officially the best team in Europe, so they’ll need to produce something special in order to match their most illustrious opponents. Boss Coyle could welcome Martin Petrov back to the side after the Bulgarian recovered from a hamstring injury, with Martin Taylor dropping to the bench and that is likely to be the only change from the side that started the Liverpool game.

Tottenham’s impressive victory over Inter was clearly one of the best in club’s long history as it was achieved in magnificent style. Gareth Bale was the one who received all the plaudits afterwards but in all fairness, all Spurs players deserve recognition for their performance against the Champions League winners. Their opponents were not even given a chance to impose themselves on the game and the resounding win will certainly do wonders for players’ confidence. Spurs won’t have too much time to celebrate as they need to prepare in the best possible way for the Bolton game, which is a great opportunity to pick up three points and topple underperforming Manchester City in their race for the top 4 finish. It is highly unlikely Harry Redknapp will tinker with his formation too much since Tottenham really need to win this game, thus we could see a very similar line-up to that which started against Inter, although Rafa van der Vaart is expected to miss out with a hamstring injury.

Conclusion

There is no doubt Tottenham are in for a stern test at Reebok Stadium, but the confidence from the Inter win can help them a great deal against Bolton, especially since the hosts are low on spirits following the Liverpool defeat. We should see a tight game between two good sides but I, nonetheless, expect Tottenham to come on top and take all the points back to London.

Verdict: Away win Tottenham (2)

Best Odds: 6/4

Bookmaker: William Hill