Bolton vs Manchester City preview

August 20, 2011
By: Frank Beresford

The two teams are joint leaders following their impressive wins in the Premiership opening round, so there is every chance we will see a great game of football at Reebok.

Bolton showed a lot of promise last season with only poor finish of the league campaign preventing them from finishing in top 10.

The Trotters entered the new season without three key players as Johan Elmander joined Galatasaray, Daniel Sturridge returned to Chelsea, whereas Lee Chung-Yong suffered a broken leg in pre-season.

Nigel Reo-Coker, Chris Eagles and Tuncay Sanli arrived to improve the quality of the squad, and Bolton largely impressed in their opening game, having beaten QPR 4:0 away from home.

Should they continue with such performances, a top half finish will become a realistic possibility, and odds of 2.75 (7/4) offered by Victor Chandler on Bolton to finish in top half do look tempting.

New signing Tuncay Sanli is not available as he awaits for a work permit, while Ricardo Gardner is doubtful with a groin problem.

Tyrone Mears, Lee Chung-Yong and Stuart Holden remain long-term worries.

Probable starting line-up (4-4-2): Jaaskelainen – Steinsson, Cahill, Knight, Robinson – Eagles, Muamba, Reo-Coker, Petrov – Davies, Klasnic.

Thanks to some heavy spending over the last few years, Manchester City have become genuine title contenders and the Citizens look pretty good at the moment.

The club have been awfully quiet in the transfer window, that is until they signed Sergio Aguero from Atletico Madrid, with the Argentine already looking like the buy of the summer.

Two goals and an assist in just half an hour against Swansea proved that the diminutive forward won’t need a lot of time to adapt to the new surroundings and Aguero is now 2.45 (29/20) with Unibet to score at Reebok.

The Argentine looks likely to start at Reebok alongside Edin Dzeko, while Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli will probably have to settle for a place on the bench.

Nigel De Jong is a doubt with an ankle problem, but Micah Richards should be fit to play after recovering from a groin injury.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): Hart – Richards, Kompany, Lescott, Clichy – Y. Toure, De Jong, Barry – Aguero, Dzeko, Silva.

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