By Mark Heys
December 30 2005

A trip to arch rivals Manchester United is the final fixture of this current calendar year as Bolton Wanderers look to get themselves back on track following a disappointing spell over Christmas.

Bad weather conditions and an unpredictable undersoil heating system prevented the Trotters home game against Middlesbrough from going ahead, throwing the managers pre-match planning into chaos in the process.

The recent games against Wigan Athletic and Sunderland dampened the mood of what has been an otherwise good season so a positive result at Old Trafford tommorow would give Bolton the perfect New Year boost.

United are undefeated at home since September and lost just twice in the Premiership all season but the Wanderers can take heart from the fact that the Reds threw away the chance of three points at struggling Birmingham City in midweek.

Last season the Trotters lost 2-0 against Sir Alex Ferguson's side but the game was memorable for all the wrong reasons as Wanderers centre half Tal Ben-Haim clashed with United's Wayne Rooney in an incident which was later brought before the Football Association.

Kevin Nolan, Joey O'Brien, Kevin Davies and Abdoulaye Diagne-Faye are likely to return to the starting line up after being rested for the goalless draw at Sunderland on Boxing Day.

Midfielder Ivan Campo (3 games) and striker El-Hadji Diouf (1 game) both serve match suspensions and will therefore miss the short trip over to Manchester. Campo was ironically sent off in a reserve game against the Reds earlier on this month.

United have long term injury concerns over left sided players Quinton Fortune and Gabriel Heinze (both knee) but Ole Gunnar Solskjaer successfully made a first team comeback in the midweek game at Birmingham after spending a year and a half on the sidelines.

Frenchman Mikael Silvestre remains a doubt with a thigh strain but Ryan Giggs could make a return to the starting eleven after being named on the substitutes bench recently.

Local derbies are always played in high spirits so the game at Old Trafford tommorow will prove to be no exception.

PREMIERSHIP RECORD

16/09/1995 MANCHESTER UNITED 3 (Scholes 2, Giggs) BOLTON WANDERERS 0

25/02/1996 BOLTON WANDERERS 0 MANCHESTER UNITED 6 (Beckham, Bruce, Cole, Scholes 2, Butt)

20/09/1997 BOLTON WANDERERS 0 MANCHESTER UNITED 0

07/02/1998 MANCHESTER UNITED 1 (Cole) BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (Taylor)

20/10/2001 MANCHESTER UNITED 1 (Veron) BOLTON WANDERERS 2 (Nolan, Ricketts)

29/01/2002 BOLTON WANDERERS 0 MANCHESTER UNITED 4 (Solskjaer 3, Van Nistelrooy)

11/09/2002 MANCHESTER UNITED 0 BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (Nolan)

22/02/2003 BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (N'Gotty) MANCHESTER UNITED 1 (Solskjaer)

16/08/2003 MANCHESTER UNITED 4 (Giggs 2, Scholes, Van Nistelrooy) BOLTON WANDERERS 0

07/01/2004 BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (G.Neville OG) MANCHESTER UNITED 2 (Giggs, Scholes)

11/09/2004 BOLTON WANDERERS 2 (Nolan, Ferdinand) MANCHESTER UNITED 2 (Heinze, Bellion)

26/12/2004 MANCHESTER UNITED 2 (Giggs, Scholes) BOLTON WANDERERS 0

PREMIERSHIP FORM GUIDE:

Played: 12

Won: 2

Drawn: 4

Lost: 6

CONNECTIONS

John Ball, Peter Barnes, Peter Beardsley, Wyn Davies, Tony Dunne, Alan Gowling, Brian Kidd, Harry McShane, Willie Morgan, John O’Kane, Paul Wheatcroft, Bill Wrigglesworth

IT HAPPENED WHEN BOLTON PLAYED UNITED

Bolton's biggest Premiership defeat came in February 1996 at Burnden Park as United ran out 6-0 winners

Gary Pallister (Manchester United) and Nathan Blake (Bolton Wanderers) where sent off for fighting when these two sides met in September 1997. Pallister later having his caution overturned by an FA Panel

The 40th Anniversairy of the Munich Air Tragedy took place on 7th February 1998 and Bolton where the visitors to Old Trafford. Bob Taylor put the Wanderers in front with his first goal for the club since moving from West Brom but Andy Cole struck four minutes from time with a header following a defensive mix up

In October 2001 United where the ones making the defensive blunders as Wes Brown allowed Bolton's Michael Ricketts to gain a late winner at Old Trafford for the Wanderers first win there since 1978-79

Last minute blunders have proved costly for Bolton in recent years. In 2003 Ricardo Gardner gave the ball away to David Beckham who in turn crossed for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to equalise and in 2004 the same happened as Nicky Hunt allowed David Bellion to net a rare goal in a 2-2 draw

Les Ferdinand scored his only Premiership goal for Bolton against United in September 2004. Gabriel Heinze, making his United debut in that game, also found the net.