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West
Bromwich Albion v Bolton Wanderers
The Hawthorns,
West Bromwich. 17th April 2006 8.00pm. |
| 16th April 2006 |
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| Position |
19th |
8th |
| Form |
L D L L D L |
W L L L L L |
| Last Match |
Arsenal
(A) 1-3 |
Chelsea (H) 0-2 |
Last Meeting
23rd October 2005 |
Bolton Wanderers 2
(Nakata 81, Nolan 90)
West Bromwich Albion 0 |
Last Baggies win in this fixture
was 2-1 on 2nd October 2004
Kanu and Gera scored a goal each in the space
of seven second half minutes to give Gary Megson his first and only
Albion win of last season. Stelios scored from a free kick late on
but Albion held on for the three points. That is Albion's only win
over Bolton in their last seven visits to the Hawthorns. |
No second chances,
no excuses - the match at the Hawthorns on Monday evening is a must-win
encounter in the realest sense of the word. In my mind, there is
no doubt that Albion will be relegated should they fail to beat
Bolton, irrespective of other results. Of course, mathematically,
it will not be over, but in real terms, anything other than three
points will spell a return to the second flight of English football.
Of course, even three points will still leave Albion with a tough
task to stay up - from where we are now, it will be a Great Escape
equally as remarkable as last year's. Indeed, with four games to
go last season, Albion were only a point from safety with a game
in hand - now, we are four points adrift having played the same
games. The one significance is that we do not have to play Arsenal
and Manchester United, those games have already gone without a return.
All four of Albion's remaining games should be considered winnable,
but Albion might just have to win the lot to stay up.
As for Monday's game, Albion face a Bolton side in a terrible run
of form. After beating Sunderland a month ago, Bolton were in with
a real chance of making a genuine challenge for the final Champions
League place - they were four points behind fourth-placed Spurs
with two games in hand. But after five consecutive defeats, they
are now eleven points behind Spurs and are fighting for stay in
touch with the UEFA Cup spots. Two of those defeats were to Man
Utd and Chelsea at the Reebok, where they hadn't lost since August,
but Bolton's real failure this season has been on their travels.
They have lost eight times away from home including the recent defeat
to Birmingham. Since their 4-0 win at Everton in December, they
have picked up just three points from away Premiership games and
have lost the last four.
So it looks like a good time to play them, although they will obviously
look at a trip to the second bottom club as a chance to reignite
their quest for a second successive season of European football.
Sam Allardyce's most influential player this season must be Stelios
Giannakopoulos. The Greek attacking midfielder is Bolton's top scorer
this season with an impressive twelve goals, and plenty of assists.
Just behind him in the scoring charts is Kevin Nolan with eleven
goals - another midfielder who has the knack of finding himself
in goalscoring positions with alarming regularity. However, Diouf
has failed to reproduce last season's goalscoring form and Kevin
Davies has also failed to find the net as often as he would like.
Bolton's main strength continues to be their set pieces, which is
perhaps why the goalscoring duties are spread around. But even that
area of the game has failed to produce in recent weeks as Bolton
have failed to find the net at all in their last three games.
But Bolton's apparent recent frailties do not alter the fact that
they are a difficult team to beat, but beat them is exactly what
Albion must do. Bryan Robson must put out an attacking team and,
maybe, he should consider the option of not picking a substitute
'keeper to allow of as many attacking options on the bench as possible.
A suspension for Ronnie Wallwork will perhaps tempt Robson into
replacing him with a more attacking player. Leaving the defensive
midfield duties to Nigel Quashie alone is obviously a risk, but
being able to play Greening, Gera, Kamara, Kanu and Ellington from
the start could give Albion the edge to get a couple of early goals,
and allow Robson to bring a more defensive player on to protect
the lead. It may be a risky strategy, but what do Albion have to
lose at this stage of the season? It really is win or bust.
Of course, the Duke is still a doubt with his foot injury, so that
option may not be available, but for me, the opportunities that
could be created with Kanu feeding Ellington and Kamara lead me
to believe that all three should start up front, should they all
be fit.
My team would be as follows:
Kuszczak; Albrechtsen, Davies, Clement, Robinson; Greening, Quashie,
Gera; Kanu, Ellington, Kamara.
Subs: Inamoto, Watson, Campbell, Nicholson, Carter.
Three points for Albion will take them into 18th place with Birmingham
not playing until Wednesday - hopefully their defeat at Villa Park
will have knocked the stuffing out of them. Portsmouth are clear
favourites to stay up having picked up fourteen points from a possible
eighteen, but hopefully Charlton will do us another favour and take
the points in their game on Monday afternoon. A favourable result
could give Albion a boost - they certainly need one.
It's time to win, at any cost.
Jon Want, 16th April 2006.
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