By Mark Heys
November 20 2005

Bolton Wanderers travel to St Andrews tommorow evening knowing that a win against Birmingham City would propel them into second place behind runaway leaders Chelsea.

Sam Allardyce's high flying Wanderers team are also looking for their fourth straight Premiership victory, their sixth victory in all competitions and their sixth clean sheet since the middle of last month.

The Blues on the other hand are struggling at the wrong end of the table and will remain in the bottom three regardless of how they fare in tommorow's contest. Steve Bruce has seen his side short changed at home throughout this season and is anxious for that to change sooner rather than later.

Bolton striker Kevin Davies has declared himself fit for this game following a recent rib injury but left wing back Henrik Pedersen is still being troubled by an achillies problem which has forced him out of the last few matches.

Kevin Nolan takes the Wanderers captaincy on a permanent basis for the first time after Sam Allardyce appointed the in-form midfielder at the tail end of last week.

Birmingham manager Steve Bruce has seen his recent injury woes ease somewhat as Mario Melchiot (knee), David Dunn (back), Stephen Clemence (calf) and Damien Johnson (hamstring) have all returned to training but striker Mikael Forssell is ruled out for up to three weeks with a thigh problem.

Tunisian midfielder Medhi Nafti is a long term absentee for the Blues having damaged his cruciate knee ligaments in the pre-season preparations. Nafti is expected to return in the Spring and is as yet knowhere near the first team reckoning.

Last season a late goal by Nolan gave an El-Hadji Diouf inspired Bolton a 2-1 win at St Andrews to end a disasterous losing streak which had built up over the course of five weeks during the Christmas and New Year period.

The reverse fixture at the Reebok Stadium the previous September ended all square as former Leicester midfielder Muzzy Izzet smashed home a Birmingham equaliser to cancel out a volley from the Wanderers giant defender Radhi Jaidi.

Last season's last gasp win at St Andrews ended an unwanted winless run for Bolton on that ground which had stretched right back to December 1990.

PREMIERSHIP RECORD

02/11/2002 BIRMINGHAM CITY 3 (Purse, Savage, Horsfield) BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (Okocha)

01/02/2003 BOLTON WANDERERS 4 (Cunningham (OG), Pedersen, Djorkaeff, Facey) BIRMINGHAM CITY 2 (Savage, Morrison)

25/10/2003 BOLTON WANDERERS 0 BIRMINGHAM CITY 1 (Forssell)

06/03/2004 BIRMINGHAM CITY 2 (Forssell, Hughes) BOLTON WANDERERS 0

25/09/2004 BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (Jaidi) BIRMINGHAM CITY 1 (Izzet)

04/01/2005 BIRMINGHAM CITY 1 (Upson) BOLTON WANDERERS 2 (Diouf, Nolan)

PREMIERSHIP FORM GUIDE:

Played: 6

Won: 2

Drawn: 1

Lost: 3

CONNECTIONS

Simon Charlton, Tony Evans, Paul Fitzpatrick, Bob Hatton, David Holdsworth, Allan Johnston, Andy Kennedy, Jim McDonagh, Trevor Morgan, Jamie Pollock, Kevin Poole, Isaiah Rankin, John Sheridan, Bryan Small, Stuart Storer, Gordon Taylor, Neil Whatmore, Frank Worthington.

IT HAPPENED WHEN BOLTON PLAYED THE BLUES

Jay-Jay Okocha and Delroy Facey both netted their first ever goals for Bolton in the games against Birmingham during the 2002-2003 season.