Phil Parkinson’s men travel to St Andrew’s tonight, hoping for their first league win of 2019. However, victory against play-off hopefuls Birmingham looks unlikely for the Trotters.
Despite earning a hard-fought 1-0 win over the midlanders in August, Birmingham have enjoyed a much more successful season than Bolton.
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Blues boss Garry Monk has led his side to 8th in the Championship, only a few points off the play-off places.
Meanwhile, Bolton have struggled all season long and face a tough battle to survive relegation come May.
A handful for Bolton’s defenders
Birmingham’s most dangerous attacking threat comes from Che Adams, who has notched a staggering 19 goals so far this season. For those keeping count, that’s just one fewer goal than the entire Bolton team have scored this campaign.
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Mixed record against the Blues
However, looking back at the previous record between to the two sides and it makes surprisingly pleasant reading for Bolton. Throughout the history of both clubs, Bolton and Birmingham have met 131 times, with the Trotters winning on 52 occasions. Whereas Birmingham have won just 45 times.
Goals could be hard to come by tonight. In the seven most recent matches, six of those games ended 1-0, two wins for Bolton and four in favour of the Blues.
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Could the Trotters take inspiration from an historic cup tie?
While Bolton may have won the earlier game between the two sides this season, Wanderers’ most historic win at St Andrew’s came in 2011. The FA Cup quarter final that saw the Trotters win a thrilling cup tie 3-2 with a last gasp winner from Chung-Yong Lee sent Owen Coyle’s team through to the ill-fated semi final against Stoke.
Phil Parkinson and co. will surely be hoping to recapture some of that cup magic in tonight’s league fixture.
The harsh reality
Wanderers are without a win in seven games and have amassed just one point since the start of the new year.
It’ll be a tough ask for Bolton to come away with anything from St Andrew’s.
Wanderers youth prospect Luca Connell could be forced to miss the game through injury. The talented youngster has been the subject of a Premier League bid this week, but looks set to stay. He’ll be sorely missed tonight though.
With that all in mind, how do you think Phil Parkinson’s side will fare at St Andrew’s tonight?
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