Football Special Report: Premier League Preview (Part 2)
Stoke City will travel to the Reebok stadium to face Bolton Wanderers tonight and after a sluggish start to the season the Potters are on the back of 10 points from their last four games and currently sit pretty at the seventh spot in the Premier League
table. However, their opponents tonight are the trotters, who despite having managed only one win this season, will present a formidable threat. Bolton have only lost one game this season and have drawn 5 and Owen Coyle will be hoping that his side will return
to winning ways against Stoke City tonight but the task isn’t going to be an easy one for his men, as Stoke have fared rather well on their rivals this season. Owen Coyle will welcome Kein Davies back into the starting line-up after the 30 year old made his
England debut in the midweek against Montenegro. Stoke have only ever won once against Bolton in their last 8 meetings.
Another mouth watering clash of the weekend will be the match between Newcastle United and Wigan Athletic. Only one point separates the two sides at the near foot of the table, as they go into tonight’s match at St. James’s Park. Chris Hughton’s side has
suffered back to back defeats in their last two games despite putting in good shows and the manager will be hoping that his side does not suffer from the same fate again tonight. Wigan on the other hand only climbed out of the bottom three in their last outing
in the Premier League and the result now means that they have only lost once in their last four outings and Roberto Martinez will take heat from this fact as his side prepare for an all important clash. An interesting fact about Wigan is that they are the
only Premier League team this season who has not conceded a goal away from home and if they can continue that run tonight at St James’s than at least a point will be guaranteed for them from the game.
Another big clash of the weekend will be contested by Wolverhampton Wanderers and West Ham United at the Molineux. Wolves’ reputation this season has been very notorious as they have been accused of being overly physical on the pitch and Karl Henry tackle
in the last game that resulted in a red for they player did them no favours. Mick Mcarthy’s side have picked up the highest number of cards this season with 20 yellows and two reds. They go into tonight’s match against the Hammers on the back of poor run of
form in the league, with no wins in their last six games and four straight losses. West Ham also have problems of their own as they go into the match being at the bottom of the table having only conjured 5 points all season and manager Avram Grant will be
hoping to get things back on track against Wolves tonight.
The last match of the weekend will be played between Blackpool and Manchester City. The Seasiders will be going into the buoyant from their victor against Liverpool in their last game. Blackpool have been the surprise package of the season and are currently
9th in the table when everyone picked them for the drop this season. City are scaling the heady heights of the Premier League as they sit at the second spot in the table and a win tonight will take them to within touching distance of Chelsea. Roberto
Mancini has been criticized by fans for being too defensive with his line ups but against a lowly opposition like Blackpool, he will perhaps pack a punch in his side. With a wide array of attacking talent at his disposal, he will have no problems if he decides
t go for an attacking line-up on Sunday.
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