Bolton Wanderers
Another week and another defeat has seen Bolton Wanderers continue their steady decline down the Championship table and they are now on the brink of entering the bottom three. Phil Parkinson is doing all he can to get things turned around for the club, but they are not enjoying much luck at the moment and Bolton Wanderers look a little short of confidence.
The 2-0 loss on Friday Night Football eight days ago has helped drop Bolton Wanderers into 20th place in the Championship table and they are now just a point clear of 23rd placed Hull City. An improvement in form at the Macron Stadium is necessary for Bolton Wanderers who have a 2-1-5 record at home in the League and have scored 5 goals and conceded 12 in those games.
Bolton Wanderers have not won any of their last 6 League games and the biggest concern has to be the single point earned from a possible 18 in that run. Scoring goals is a major problem too with just one scored in those 6 games, although I can't explain how they didn't score at Villa Park last week. The Trotters have lost 3 straight games at home in the League and have failed to score in any of those.
Swansea City
Graham Potter was appointed manager of Swansea City this summer and the expectation at the club was vastly different to those of the layers. It is no surprise a relegated Premier League club would be one of the favourites for promotion at the bookmakers, but it has felt that this was always seen as a transitional season by those involved with the club.
It is part of the season that Potter has not been under the same kind of scrutiny as Darren Moore at West Brom and Gary Rowett at Stoke City, but don't mistake that as a situation where the manager will look to coast along. Potter has guided Swansea City up to 9th in the Championship without much fanfare and they are only 7 points behind leaders Leeds United. The Swans will have to find more consistency all around though and they have a 2-3-3 record away from home in the League where they have scored 5 goals and conceded 6.
Swansea City had won back to back League games to move up the table and they led 0-1 at Rotherham United last weekend before conceding twice in the last eleven minutes. The 2-1 loss at the New York Stadium means Swansea City have not won any of their last 5 away games, although they did snap a run of 4 on their travels without scoring.
BOLTON VS SWANSEA CITY MATCH PREVIEW
Two former Premier League sides go to battle in a Championship clash on Saturday as Bolton take on Swansea in the 17th round of second tier action in the 2018/19 season. The hosts are in awful form under manager Phil Parkinson and currently sit two places above the relegation zone, whilst Swansea under Graham Potter are going steady one season after their relegation from the top-flight and sit ninth, just three points outside of the all-important top six. Surprisingly, this match will be only the fourth ever meeting between the two teams, with a win for both sides and a draw in between.
BOLTON TEAM NEWS
Parkinson’s Bolton return to Championship action in pursuit of a win which would lift them away from their current poor position of 20th against an impressive Swansea side this weekend. A dismal run of six matches without a win, with five of those six ending in defeats without scoring a goal, suggests they aren’t very well equipped to go and win this tie, but Parkinson will have a job on his hands to ensure his side look at some of the positive results they have achieved – including a 1-0 win over Derby County and a 2-1 win away to West Bromwich Albion – and take inspiration from those wins, whilst also not focusing on the fact a loss could leave them in the dreaded relegation zone.
Wanderers only just survived relegation last term and another season battling against the same process this time around can only become tiresome, especially given their previous history of being in the Premier League for a number of years. However, a win this weekend against a solid Swansea outfit would most certainly go a long way in kick-starting their campaign and a two-game unbeaten streak against the Welsh giants will give them confidence of doing so. However, in order to do that they’ll have to rely on the likes of Josh Magennis and Yanic Wildschut to play well, two players who have looked good when Bolton have won games, but the two men simply have not shown their class on a consistent basis and they’ll have to do so this week. Sammy Ameobi, Gary O’Neil, Stephen Ireland and Jake Turner are expected to miss out with ongoing injury woes, which also may give a chance to the likes of Lloyd Dyer and summer arrival Christian Doidge to shine here.
Bolton vs Swansea City Stats
Bolton have lost each of their last three league games at home without scoring; the Trotters have never lost and failed to score in four successive home league games in their history.
Swansea have failed to score in nine of their last 13 league away trips, netting just six goals (W2 D5 L6) – they’ve only managed one goal in their last five outings.
Bolton boss Phil Parkinson hasn’t faced Swansea since the 2013 League Cup final at Wembley, when his Bradford City side were hammered 5-0.
Only Neal Maupay (18) and Lewis Grabban (17) have netted more goals in the Championship in 2018 than Swansea striker Oliver McBurnie (16).
