Bolton Wanderers v Preston North End - Match Preview
An all-Lancashire affair is up next when Bolton Wanderers take on Preston North End on Saturday afternoon with both teams near the lower reaches of the Championship.
However, it’s most definitely Bolton who find themselves in the bigger mess of the two clubs as The Trotters sit second from bottom and three points adrift of Rotherham United and safety ahead of this crucial home game.
Against the backdrop of financial insecurity and fan unrest, Bolton have had to endure a wretched campaign which has seen the hosts record just five league wins all season so far and also come into this encounter on the back of four defeats from their last five matches overall.
Put simply, Bolton’s problems have been their lack of goals this season and this is further reflected in their home record which stands at W3 D4 L8 scored 9 and conceded 19 so far this term.
Despite not scoring many themselves, they haven’t actually conceded that many either with their heaviest defeat at the Macron Stadium being 3-0 losses to Sheffield United and Nottingham Forest.
In fact, 10 of Bolton’s 15 home matches have been low-scoring and the under 2.5 goals option has been on top.
Preston North End occupy the relative comfort of 18th place in the Championship and hold a comfortable 12-point cushion over third from bottom club Reading ahead of this weekend’s action.
The visitors bring a four-match unbeaten run with them into this encounter having registered wins against QPR 4-1 and Stoke City 2-0, both of which were achieved away from home, along with draws against Swansea City 1-1 and a 0-0 draw with Derby County.
Turning to form away from home and recent weeks have seen an improvement on the road for Preston thanks to the aforementioned wins at QPR and Stoke City, but they too had problems scoring goals away from home earlier in the season.
Preston failed to score in their first four away matches of the season and in total have failed to score in 6 of their 15 away matches, while the under 2.5 goals has resulted in 9 of these 15 away games.
Bolton Wanderers tend not to concede too many goals while Preston have scored more than 2 away goals on just four occasions. Throw in the fact that this is a local clash and this could well end up being a dour affair.
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