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Manchester City v Bolton ( Preview and Streams )

Discussion in 'Manchester City' started by Father_Jack_Hackett, Mar 2, 2012.

  1. Father_Jack_Hackett

    Father_Jack_Hackett New Member

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    TEAM NEWS

    Manchester City have a near fully-fit squad, although Carlos Tevez played only 45 minutes for the reserves in midweek and will not be involved.

    Kolo Toure should be available despite pulling out of the Ivory Coast squad for their friendly with Guinea.

    Bolton defender Dedryck Boyata is ineligible to play against his parent club under the terms of his loan deal.

    Kevin Davies (knee), Mark Davies (hamstring) and Gretar Steinsson (calf) are doubts, but Joe Riley is fit again.

    MATCH PREVIEW

    A Bolton win in this one is the biggest outside bet of the weekend in the Premier League - and even just a cursory glance at their form is enough to explain why.

    Only off the bottom by virtue of goal difference, Wanderers have lost their last three league games - and haven't scored in any of their last three away from the Reebok (all lost!). Twice before they've suffered runs of four or more successive defeats in this desperate season, and their 20 points total is over a third down on what they'd racked up from the same number of games last year (33).

    And then there's City....

    Their current sequence of five wins in a row includes three in the league without conceding, and they've now not dropped a single point on their own patch for over a year. Extending the run to 19 successive home league wins would equal Manchester United's Premier League record set in October, and keep them on course to be 100% at home over an entire season. That hasn't been done for 120 years - when Sunderland won 13 out of 13 home games in becoming champions in 1892.

    Owen Coyle insists that his team will go to the Etihad and "try to be positive", and that's surely the only way for Bolton to be. Relegation rivals Blackburn sat back and surrendered 69% possession last week and still got hit for three.

    The game between the sides in August oozed positivity all round, with City following on from their opening-game win over Swansea with another swashbuckling display to win 3-2. Roberto Mancini's new attacking philosophy was evident throughout, as was a fighting spirit from Bolton that they'll need to find again over the coming weeks.

    If they find it to take anything from this game, it might just rank as an even bigger upset than Blackburn's win at Old Trafford on New Year's Eve.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17163050
     
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  2. Father_Jack_Hackett

    Father_Jack_Hackett New Member

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