After a 1 week absence of championship football due to the international break, the Blues are back and are hosting bottom side Bolton Wanderers at St.Andrews on Saturday. Lee Clark’s men went into the international break on the back of a well deserved 1-1 draw at Charlton Athletic.
Blues will be hoping to get all three points against an out of form Bolton team who have won just one game this season. However, with the new appointment of former Celtic manager Neil Lennon, Wanderers will come to St.Andrews in high spirit and belief with a new start on offer.
All Blues fans will recall the last time these two teams met back in May. Blues travelled to the Reebok in need of a draw to stay in the Championship and Paul Caddis popped up in the 93rd minute to salvage a 2-2 draw after being 2-0 down. However, the last time Bolton came to St.Andrews, they were victorious in a 2-1 away win last October with former Blue, Neil Danns scoring the winner.
Vital Quotes:
This is what Lee Clark has had to say about injuries:
“Lee Novak and Neal Eardley are back and in the squad and they`ll be in the 18,” said Clark.
“Demarai Gray, who had to come back from England duty early, has recovered and he`s also available for selection.
“We had a behind-closed-doors game on Monday and Mark Duffy picked up a serious calf injury in the warm-up before the match. He`ll be out for anything between four and eight weeks, so that`s a blow for us.”
Here is what new appointed Neil Lennon has said in his first Bolton interview:
“I`m thrilled to be here”, said Lennon. “Walking out on the training ground was a great feeling, just to be back in football again. I think I`m at a very good club. The facilities here are second to none and the stadium is fantastic, so now I just need to get the first team going.
“Once I had spoken to Phil my mind was made up. It was just a question of me trying to convince Phil and Mr Davies that I was the man for the job. Thankfully that went well over the weekend and here we are.
“Bolton is a great club with a great tradition and history. My gut instinct said this could be a great job and a great opportunity. From what I`ve seen so far it has been terrific. I`ve been made to feel very, very welcome.”
Birmingham City Team News:
Lee Clark has confirmed in his pre match conference that Lee Novak, Neal Eardley and Demarai Gray will be back in contention for Saturday’s clash with Neil Lennon’s men. Clark has also said that winger Mark Duffy will be sidelined for up to 8 weeks with a calf injury.
Welshman David Cotterill and Canadian David Edgar both have returned from international duty this week. Winger, Cotterill came on as a first half sub and scored in Wales’ 2-1 win over Cyprus. However, centre back Edgar was unable to prevent a 1-0 loss to Colombia courtesy of a James Rodriguez strike.
Player to watch: David Cotterill
After scoring in Wales Euro 2015 qualifier in mid week and recieving the September Player of the Month award, Cotterill will be full of confidence and will hopefully be able to make a big contribution.
Bolton Team News:
Bolton have no injury concerns and will be going for the three points after only winning once this season in a 3-2 home win over Rotherham.
The Trotters have lost all five of their league games on the road this season, scoring just the one goal in the process.
Only Blackpool have scored fewer goals overall this season, while things aren’t much better at the other end of the pitch either having conceded 21 times in 11 games.
Lennon is considered by most to be a shrewd appointment, however, and he could make a number of changes to the side that were beaten by 10-man Bournemouth last time out.
Player to watch: Jermaine Beckford
Beckford is Bolton’s best striker and scored in this fixture last season. He will be a threat on Saturday.
Match Facts & Stats
Coming later
Match Prediction:
Blues never seem able to pick up a good result against teams who have just appointed a new manager. This season, Fulham and Leeds have appointed new managers in the week before the Blues game. Both matches ended in results that Blues would’ve hoped to pick up all three points. We lost 2-1 to Fulham who hadn’t won all season before that match, and a 1-1 draw against Leeds who were outplayed by Blues. Due to this I think we will lose 2-1. Keep Right On and COME ON YOU BLUES!
Next Fixtures:
21 Oct – Blackburn – Championship – 19:45 (A)
25 October – Bournemouth – Championship – 15:00 (H)
01 Nov – Wolves – Championship – 12:15 (A)