EPL - Bolton 0 - 2 Arsenal
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Sunday, 17 January 2010
Channel 27: - 12:00 am "Live"&Wednesday, 20 January 2010Arsenal vs Bolton 3:45 am (Thur)
Coyle: First game in charge
Owen Coyle takes charge of Bolton for the first time as they host the first of back-to-back Premier League encounters with Arsenal on Sunday.
The Trotters finally confirmed the former Burnley boss as their new manager last Friday, and his opening task couldn't come much tougher with the visit of the Gunners.
The fixture, which will be shown live on Starhub channel 27, is a prelude to Wednesday's immediate reverse encounter at Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal missed a chance to close the gap on league-leaders Chelsea last time out as they came from behind to snatch a point at home to Everton.
Bolton, meanwhile, have not played since their FA Cup win over Lincoln and are yet to play in the Premier League in 2010, with their last game being the 2-2 draw with Hull City - Gary Megson's final fixture in charge.
Bolton news
The Trotters have almost a full squad at their disposal, with Danny Shittu the only fresh absentee as he participates in the African Cup of Nations with Nigeria.
Coyle must do without Sean Davis, who could miss the rest of the season with a knee injury, while Joey O'Brien is also absent with knee trouble.
Otherwise, Coyle has a healthy look to his inherited squad and is expected to name a 4-4-2 formation, and with no new signings as Trotters boss he may be forced to name a familiar line-up.
Jussi Jaaskelainen will be present as ever, with in-form Gary Cahill ahead of him, possibly partnered by Zat Knight.
Coyle has options on either flank at full-back but Sam Ricketts can expect to get the nod, with Paul Robinson also a strong contender for the left side.
Mathew Taylor will operate on the left of midfield with South Korean Lee Chung-Yong a candidate to operate in an advanced role on the right.
Tamir Cohen and youngster Fabrice Muamba should anchor the centre of the field, with captain Kevin Davies set to be partnered by in-form Ivan Klasnic.
Arsenal news
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger must again work without African Cup of Nations absentees Emmanuel Eboue and Alex Song.
Captain Cesc Fabregas returns to the Arsenal side for the match at Bolton following the hamstring strain he suffered against Aston Villa two weeks ago.
Denilson misses the trip to the Reebok stadium with an abdominal muscle injury while striker Nicklas Bendtner (groin) is still a fortnight away from full fitness.
Fullback Gael Clichy is available again and is set to start from the bench, having recovered from his back injury, but new signing Sol Campbell is not in the squad.
Wenger is able to name the same line-up which drew 2-2 with Everton last week, but may consider drafting in goal-hero Tomas Rosicky for youngster Aaron Ramsey, who he replaced against the Toffees.
Possible starting XIs
Bolton: Jaaskelainen, Ricketts, Robinson, Cahill, Knight, Lee, Taylor, Cohen, Muamba, Klasnic, Davies.
Arsenal: Almunia, Sagna, Traore, Vermaelen, Gallas, Rosicky, Nasri, Diaby, Denilson, Arshavin, Eduardo.
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i hope arsenal can beat bolton to stay in the title race
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Arsenal's jinxed team come again... lol
Bolton may have new manager effect... Hmmm... Will they be able to power up for the gunners?
Bolton has not been good lately, 2nd from bottom... But they still got Kevin Davies... lol.
Gunners must keep an eye on him...
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Arsenal doing well... 1 - 0 to them at the moment...
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only when sam allardyce when he was in charge of bolton can beat arsenal lar. now change 2 managers already, dun think bolton is the bogey team of arsenal anymore.
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it's starting to look as if arsenal will soon begin a sprint to the title than any other teams given their consistency and not over-relying on certain players....
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Originally posted by dukedracula:
it's starting to look as if arsenal will soon begin a sprint to the title than any other teams given their consistency and not over-relying on certain players....
ya it will be a 3 horse race. it will be down to the wire in May, make no mistake. no team so far can pull away from the rest. there will be upsets by smaller and mid sized teams.
