Bolton Wanderers

On Saturday, West Ham saw one streak stopped and another continued. The Hammers lost away from home for the first time since October, and still have never won a game in Reebok Stadium, falling to Bolton 2-1.

West Ham was the better side for 75 of the 90 minutes, but the first 15 were enough for Bolton to take all three points from this tie.  The Wanderers scored twice in the first 11 minutes of the game, once on a free kick by Matthew Taylor and then just two minutes later on a goal by a streaking Kevin Davies.

Just two minutes after the second goal, Welsh international defender James Collins went down to make a tackle and never recovered.  He was taken off on a stretcher and replaced by James Tomkins.

It looked as if this fixture would be all Bolton, but surprisingly, from that point on West Ham looked the better side. They played well, but poor finishing was the key to their demise. 

In the 29th minute, a corner taken by Mark Noble fell to David Di Michele, but the Italian striker's shot was well wide. In the 36th minute, a ball by Cole set up Mark Noble on the right with only the keeper in front, but he opted to try to center to Jack Collison in traffic rather than test the keeper.

Just over three minutes later, Di Michele was again sent clear by Noble, but he missed wide by well over a length of a goal. I haven't played organized football in a decade and I could have done better than that.

The look on manager Gianfranco Zola's face after that said everything regarding the quality of that finish. 

Immediately after the restart, the Hammers won a corner, which was deflected on to the head of Carlton Cole, who no one even expected to play this week after taking a knock in the Middlesbrough match, but it was cleared off the line by Matthew Taylor. 

The next twenty minutes were evenly split but West Ham finally got a deserved goal in the 66th minute when Scott Parker created a run down the pitch, passed to Carlton Cole, who deflected it to Spector on the right side, and he brilliantly passed it back to Parker in the box who hit it home on the first touch.

West Ham kept the pressure on, and in the 74th minute Di Michele struck again, rather, he blew another chance. Scott Parker got the ball in the box from Noble, had it deflected to Di Michele with only the keeper to beat. 

However, instead of striking it from six yards, he danced around Jaaskelainen and took a shot from a tough angle, which was cleared nicely by Gary Cahill. From there, West Ham kept the pressure on, but even with the substitution to bring on a third striker in Freddie Sears the ball wouldn't find the back of the net again. 

A disappointing result for West Ham in a match which they were the better side for the majority of it. Bolton gains a crucial three points in their fight against relegation, now on 30 points and 12th in the table.

West Ham remains at 33 points after their second consecutive loss, eighth in the table but just 10 points clear of the bottom three. West Ham faces Middlesbrough at the Riverside midweek in an FA Cup Fifth Round replay, while Bolton stays at home to face Newcastle United next Sunday.

Some things just go together—fish and chips, Britain and rain, girls and long hair. But what about Miguel Veloso and Bolton Wanderers?

Sporting Lisbon’s 22-year-old defensive midfielder has been touted as a hot prospect for some time, with Manchester United apparently keeping an eye on him last summer.

Now, the Portuguese international is the subject of a reported £12 million bid offered by United’s far less glamorous neighbours, Bolton. But where are the big boys?

I don’t believe Veloso and Bolton go together. That is not meant to offend fans from the Reebok Stadium, but even the player has stated that he’ll hold out for a few more days with the hope of attracting the attention of a bigger club.

Would that be any of the other 19 Barclays Premier League sides, I wonder?

It just shows the appeal of the English league that a player of Veloso’s talent is prepared to drop a level (of club) just to get a shot at the Liverpools and Chelseas of this world.

In my opinion, the seven-times-capped midfielder wouldn’t look out of place in the starting lineup of any of the so-called Big Four, but it would be strange to see one of Europe’s greatest talents pulling on a Bolton shirt and knocking long balls up to Kevin Davies.

Veloso is tough and hard working, both very much Bolton traits. But on top of that he is a great football player and one who I think should stay at Sporting Lisbon—where he has regular European football, a place in the Portugal squad, and a terrific fanbase.

Maybe it is all a publicity stunt and Veloso has no intention of joining Bolton, but rather Liverpool or Manchester United, who Veloso’s advisers hope will be woken up by the travesty of this bid.

If he signs for Bolton then good luck to him, but I can’t help feeling it would be the wrong career move. Of course, if I were Bolton I’d be trying to sign him. £12 million would be money very well spent.

However, if I were a young Portuguese superstar, I’d put an end to all the speculation and settle down for fish and chips at a quiet street café in sunny Lisbon.

Most teams are throwing away countless amounts of money on stopgaps to make sure on Premier League survival, Bolton Wanderers, on the other hand, are looking towards the future.

Their recent acquisition of talented youngster Mark Davies shows intent of moving the club forward in years to come whether that is in the Premier League or the Championship.

The highly rated midfielder moves from top topping Championship side Wolverhampton Wanderers for an undisclosed fee and is tipped for big things.

He broke into the Wolves first team at the tender age of 17 shows how determined Davies is and he would not be phrased by moving into the Premier League.

Recently he has been playing for League One side Leicester City in order to regain full match fitness and has been ever impressive, even scoring a few goals on the way.

Davies has been with his injuries; he suffered cartilage troubles that caused him to miss almost two years of professional football. Sometimes with these injuries at such a young age can put a huge element of doubt in a player’s mentality, Davies, at the moment, proves otherwise.

Gary Megson must have done his research and have full faith in his ability in carrying out important duties for his side.

Davies has already captained the England under 17 team and is a proud product of the ever improving Wolves youth academy. The man who brought him through at Wolves, Chris Evans, is now on the coaching staff at Bolton and must have mentioned his deep inner thoughts on Davies.

Bolton currently sit in 14th position and is only two points from the relegation places but is the youngster Davies be enough to secure survival?

It doesn’t seem a signing that will make noticeable impact; it won’t influence the team a great deal this season especially. Other players are needed if Bolton are looking to escape from a torrid relegation battle.

Last January Sam Allardyce “parted company by mutual consent” with Newcastle United after an apparently disastrous six months in charge. Mike Ashley made it clear in no uncertain terms that he did not see ‘Big Sam’ as the man to take the club forward. A year on and this weekend saw Sam’s new club Blackburn triumph 3-0 over his old employers and not many people would have begrudged the man a wry smile at the result.

Allardyce drew an awful lot of criticism for his tenure at Newcastle but was it really all that bad? A club that had finished thirteenth in the season before his arrival was positioned in eleventh at the time of his departure. 

Allardyce himself pointed out recently on Sky Sports’ Goals on Sunday programme that he left the club in eleventh, an improvement on the previous season albeit a small one, and the club has never been as high in the table again in the twelve months since he left.

Clearly he felt hard done by at not being given a fair crack of the whip in the North-East and he had to bide his time waiting for an opportunity for his comeback. Somewhat ironically it came at the expense of another manager perhaps not given enough time at a Premiership club in the shape of Paul Ince. 

However, the comparison ends there as Ince had inherited a team which achieved a seventh place finish the previous season and under his control had only accumulated 13 points in 17 games in charge.

‘Big Sam’ took over and has already taken eight points from four games including three clean sheets from a team which up until his arrival had conceded more goals than anyone else in the entire Premier League. So far the opposition he has faced as been less than stellar but no-one can deny or question the positive impact that he has made.

Yet still the stigma remains with Allardyce concerning the style of football that his teams play, but not everyone can play free-flowing, attacking football – besides, outside of Arsenal and Manchester United and possibly Aston Villa who in the Premiership does play this easy-on-the-eye brand of football? 

Even the Champions’ table-topping recent run of form has only seen nine goals in their past nine games while their defence has remained unbreached. Allardyce’s Bolton got slaughtered for playing better football than that.  Why?

Yes his Bolton team were physical and uncompromising but they also achieved results that I feel have been somewhat swept under the carpet. An eighth place finish in 2003/2004—does Megson’s team look capable of this at present? Probably not. And what of the sixth place finish the very next year where they finished below Champions League winners Liverpool only on goal difference? Nowadays, absolutely no chance, yet it did happen only four years ago.

Allardyce left Bolton in April 2007. What was their position at the time? Fifth. 

English managers seem to be completely overlooked when it comes to handing out praise in the Premier League where it is easily lavished upon the likes of Ferguson, Mourinho, O’Neill, etc. Would any of them have got Bolton into the top six? Possibly, maybe probably, of course we’ll never know but it’s still a pretty good achievement no? Could anyone really have done much better with the resources at Bolton?

So why did he have to wait a year until he was offered another job? In my eyes this is madness and wouldn’t happen anywhere else. The press only seem capable of building up foreign managers and knocking down the English ones. Why is this? What is the problem with English managers in England and why can’t they get a break? 

Let me know your thoughts and perhaps we can get to the bottom of this mystery…

Victory at Bolton would lift United one point clear of Liverpool.

With one game in hand, United have the chance to add to the pressure on Liverpool, who were held to a goalless draw at Stoke City in their last match.

Remember also that Manchester United have played ALL the top 12 teams AWAY from home and they all must come to Old Trafford now, with the exception of Chelsea, of course, who had their visit last week and got a hell of a beating.

"You don't mind when you go top, but top is definitely the place to be," United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said. "Hopefully that's where we'll be by Saturday night."

With nine successive clean sheets United have a rock solid defence. Five of their past seven league matches have been won by 1-0. Injuries to Wayne Rooney and Patrice Evra mean they will have to rearrange the team somewhat at Bolton, but with such strength in depth they will still be a handful for Bolton.

Speaking of recent injuries Fergie said: "Carlos (Tevez) limped through the second half and Jonny (Evans) limped through virtually the whole game," he said. "We will have to assess them and see how they are. We need our best team on Saturday because Bolton are a big side."

Bolton have started adding to their extremley small squad by signing defender Sebastien Puygrenier on loan from Russian side Zenit St. Petersburg until the end of the season.

The 26-year-old played in Zenit's UEFA Super Cup victory over Manchester United in August and his move is subject to international clearance.

The Frenchman moved to Zenit last summer after spells in his homeland with Stade Rennais and Nancy.

It is Bolton boss Gary Megson's first signing of the transfer window. He in many fans views now either look for an attacking midfielder or an out-an-out striker. But do Bolton have the buying power?

INFO ON PLAYER

Sébastien Nioclas Puygrenier (born Jan. 28, 1982 in Limonges) is a French footballer; he currently plays for Bolton Wanderers on loan from FC Zenit St. Petersburg.

Starting his career at Stade Rennais, Puygrenier made his Ligue 1 debut in the 4-1 defeat at Lyon in 2003. He started the next two matches, but these proved to be his last games for the club before joining Nancy on loan for the 2003-04 season.

After playing 27 games in Ligue 2 that season, Puygrenier spent a further season on loan at Nancy, with 20 appearances as the club won promotion. League rules prevented him from staying on loan at a rival Ligue 1 club so he was signed permanently in 2005.

Puygrenier scored his only league goal to date on 28 August in the 6-0 win over his old club. He also scored Nancy's opener in the 3-0 win over Feyenoord Rotterdam in the Uefa Cup. He was voted Fans' Player of the Year for 2006-07, and named in the Ligue 1 07-08 Team of the Year the following season, when he helped Nancy stay unexpectedly in the top three for most of the season.

On July 31, 2008 he signed a four-year contract with FC Zenit. He took part in the team's victory in the 08 UEFA Super Cup.

Here are some pre-match facts about the two teams:

• Liverpool enter Christmas top of the table for the first time since 1996.
• Two wins from the next two games will give Liverpool their best points total in a calendar year for 19 years.
• Two points against Bolton and Newcastle will see Liverpool record their best points tally in a single year since 1990.
  
• The Reds are looking to record their 11th league double over Bolton and their fourth in the Premier League following a 2-0 win at the Reebok six weeks ago. Dirk Kuyt headed the Reds into a 28th minute lead and Steven Gerrard wrapped up the points on 73 minutes.
• Last season here the Reds won 4-0 with Sami Hyypia, Fernando Torres, Steven Gerrard, and Ryan Babel all finding the net.
• At Anfield the Reds have won the last six meetings conceding just one goal.
• Liverpool are unbeaten in the league at Anfield in the calendar year 2008. Should they avoid losing today it will be only the second time they have gone a calendar year without losing at home in the league since 1990. The other was two years ago.
• The Reds are the only team in all four divisions not to have lost at home this year.
• Liverpool's biggest win over Bolton came here in September 1930 when the Reds won 7-2. 
• Bolton last won in the League at Anfield in January 1954 winning 2-1. Since then they have drawn two and lost 11.
• In the Premier League, Bolton have picked up just one point out of 27 on this ground.
• Their last goal at Anfield came from Henrik Pedersen in a 3-1 defeat five years ago today—only the second time the sides have met on Boxing Day.
• Kevin Nolan is the only current Bolton player to have scored for the club at Anfield. He did so in a 1-1 draw on New Years Day 2002.
• Wanderers have won on this ground on Boxing Day. They recorded a 2-0 victory in 1906.
• Bolton's last away win on this day came in 1996 when they beat Grimsby Town 2-1 thanks to goals from Gerry Taggart and Nathan Blake.
• Matthew Taylor has scored in five Premier League games this season and Bolton have won them all.

Current League Positions: 
 
Liverpool: Pld 18; Won 11, Drawn 6, Lost 1. Goals For 27, against 12. Points: 39. Position: 1st.
 
Bolton: Pld 18; Won 7, Drawn 2, Lost 9. Goals For 22, against 24.      Points: 23 Position: 9th.

Gabriel Agbonlahor further staked his claim in Fabio Capello's England squad with a fantastic performance to leapfrog Arsenal and seal three points for Aston Villa.

Sweden international Johan Elmander stunned the crowd at Villa Park, when against the run of play, the striker put Bolton ahead with a back heel at the near post on 18 minutes.

But Villa fought back, and got themselves level on 24 minutes with a superb finish from Gabriel Agbonlahor. The striker got on the end of Martin Laursen's long ball, and in just one movement wriggled past Andrew O'Brien, before volleying past Jussi Jaaskelainen from 12-yards out.

Kevin Davies then scored at the wrong end when he put Villa ahead five minutes before the break. When trying to deal with a cross from the left by Gareth Barry, the pressure of Martin Laursen's presence meant Davies could only succeed in heading into his own net.

Towards the end of the first half, Villa were denied the chance to make it three, when penalty appeals after Ashley Young was caught late by Bolton defender Gretar Steinsson were waved away by the referee.

Aston Villa carried on the second half like they did in the first, and had several chances to further extend their lead, most notably when Curtis Davies' downward header bounced over the crossbar.

However, these missed chances mattered little when the ever brilliant Ashley Young managed to get a cross in from the left for Gabriel Agbonlahor to head home from close range. The assist was made even better when considering the fact Young had two defenders with him, and somehow still managed to cross it in.

With 12 minutes remaining, Agbonlahor decided to repay Ashley Young for his second goal, when he turned provider and set up Young to hit a low shot that took a slight deflection off former Villa man Gary Cahill, before flying past Jaaskelainen and into the back of the net.

Kevin Davies atoned for his own goal when he netted a consolation for the visitors on 86 minutes.

A fantastic performance by Villa, and one that has seem them force their way into the top four, punishing a lacklustre Arsenal who slip down to fifth following their 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough.

A great win for the home side, with several players like Ashley Young, Luke Young, Martin Laursen and Gareth Barry again showing everyone what they can do.

But if there was one man in particular who showed what he can do, it was the man who Capello is still so stupid not play in the senior England side. With two great goals and an assist, surely it is just a matter of time before Saturday's man of the match Gabriel Agbonlahor can showcase his talent on the senior international stage.

Aston Villa look to continue their four game unbeaten run in the EPL, when they play host to Bolton Wanderers at Villa Park.

Martin O'Neill's men have taken eight points from a possible 12 in their last four games, and run that includes their remarkable win over Everton last week.

Despite Villa being strong favourites, Bolton will also fancy their chances, with manager Gary Megson recently being named EPL Manager of the Month for November. Also, with seven of the last ten meetings between the two sides ending in a draw, it wouldn't be outside the realms of possibility to say that Bolton can get at least a draw from this game.

Team News

Aston Villa

With John Carew (back) and James Milner (flu) likely to miss the game against Bolton, manager Martin O'Neill could well name an unchanged side from the team that won in the thriller at Goodison Park.

Luke Young is expected to maintain his adopted role at left-back, which means no place for Nicky Shorey, the talented full-back accustomed to playing on the left.

Bolton Wanderers

As November's Manager of the Month Gary Megson prepares for the trip down to the delights of Birmingham, he will be without defender Joey O'Brien, and midfielder Tamir Cohen, as both will miss the games with torn thigh muscles.

Just like his managerial counterpart at Villa, Megson could be expected to stick with the side that put up a brave fight against high-flying Chelsea at the Reebok Stadium.

Bolton are also without veteran goalkeeper Ian Walker, after his contract was terminated by mutual consent. However, there was little chance of the 37-year old shot-stopper being involved anyway.

My Prediction

I can't see anything other than a Villa win, despite the recent results at Bolton. Like most people, I will have to go for a 2-1, or 2-0, Aston Villa win. Expect Bolton to put up a bit of a fight though.