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Manchester City Preview
By Mark Heys March 21 2008
Bolton Wanderers will play their third local derby in less than a week tommorow afternoon when they come face to face with Sven Goran Eriksson's European chasing Manchester City side at the Reebok Stadium.

The Wanderers are currently on the back of five straight league defeats, with the latest two coming in the away games at Wigan Athletic and Manchester United over the last six days.

City have already beaten Bolton in the league and Carling Cup this season and another defeat for the Trotters would severly harm their top flight prospects.

However, Bolton can be bouyed by the fact that City have had some inconsistant results lately which has seen them struggle against sides in the lower reaches of the division.

Last weekend the Mancunians defeated Tottenham Hotspur to claim their first home win since the middle of January but in the two games leading up to that they had been beaten by Reading and drew with Wigan.

Wanderers boss Gary Megson could include Kevin Nolan (back) and Gary Cahill (foot) despite the pair still not being 100% at full fitness.

Gavin McCann is a doubt after picking up a calf injury during the midweek defeat at Old Trafford and goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen will miss the remainder of the season with a back problem.

Defender Abdoulaye Meite will not be included for the Trotters after refusing to come out for the second half in the game against United.

Ivory Coast international Meite will spend the final weeks of the campaign training with the reserves and will very likely move on in the summer.

City manager Sven Goran Eriksson is without knee injury victims Michael Ball and Micah Richards, whilst veteran midfielder Didi Hamann will serve the final game of a two match suspension.

One player returning from suspension for the Blues is winger Martin Petrov and defender Richard Dunne and striker Benjani Mwaruwari are both able to play despite suffering with recent shin and hamstring problems.

LAST TIME WE MET:

15/12/2007 MANCHESTER CITY 4 (Bianchi, Vassell, Hamann, Etuhu) BOLTON WANDERERS 2 (Diouf, Nolan)

BOLTON: Jussi Jaaskelainen, Nicky Hunt (Gavin McCann), Abdoulaye Meite, Lubomir Michalik, Ricardo Gardner, Danny Guthrie, Ivan Campo (Stelios Giannakopoulos), Kevin Nolan, Kevin Davies, Nicolas Anelka, El-Hadji Diouf

SUBS NOT USED: Jlloyd Samuel, Gary Speed, Ali Al-Habsi (GK)

CITY: Andreas Isaksson, Vedran Corluka, Micah Richards, Richard Dunne, Michael Ball, Gelson Fernandes (Kelvin Etuhu), Michael Johnson, Didi Hamann, Martin Petrov (Javier Garrido), Rolando Bianchi (Emile Mpenza), Darius Vassell

SUBS NOT USED: Geovanni, Joe Hart (GK)

PLAYED FOR BOTH:

Nicolas Anelka, Peter Barnes, Peter Beardsley, David Cross, Tony Cunningham, Wyn Davies, Andy Dibble, Mike Doyle, Asa Hartford, Colin Hendry, Tony Henry, Freddie Hill, Steve Howey, Alan Kernaghan, Brian Kidd, Francis Lee, Stuart Lee, Billy McAdams, Neil McNab, Andy May, Jamie Pollock, Peter Reid, Paul Ritchie, Mark Seagraves, Barry Siddall, Nicky Summerbee, Gerry Taggart, Mike Walsh, Tommy Wright

DID YOU KNOW:

Bolton have faced City five times at the Reebok Stadium in the Premier League, winning two, losing two and drawing once.

Former City favourite Paul Lake is currently a physiotherapist at Wanderers having joined the club from Macclesfield Town in early 2008.

The Wanderers two home wins against City in recent years have both ended 2-0.

 

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