Ian Evatt’s men make to the short trip across Greater Manchester for their first ever visit to neighbours Salford City for this weekend's Sky Bet League Two fixture.
Pre-Match Quotes:
Ian Evatt: “I expect the game to be tough. I think it’s going to be a really challenging game, they’ve got a wealth and a raft of good talented players and we don’t really know what individuals are going to play or what formations they’re going to play because they’ve been adaptable and they’ve changed a lot.
"I think Richie (Wellens) is still finding his way with them and they’re finding out about each other, but whoever plays, I know Richie well, I played against him many times.
"We did our coaching badges together, I know him as a person, as a player and now as a coach and manager and they’ll be highly motivated to beat us, they’ll want to put it right for the game that was here and they still have ambition of being promoted themselves so it’s going to be a really tough game but one we’re looking forward to.
"I think this week, the players that were brought in have lifted the players again after a fantastic result and performance on Saturday, so hopefully we can go there and show what we’re about, show what we can do and get a positive result.”
Richie Wellens: (Speaking to BBC Radio Manchester): “Our last performance, against Oldham, was probably our best performance. When you have a performance like that you need to do one of two things. You need to make sure you are ruthless in front of goal, then kill the game off.
"If you are not, you need to make sure you keep the backdoor shut. We’ve looked back at the two goals and the two goals are quite poor to give away. Oldham haven’t really worked for their two goals and cut us open.
“Bolton have had a huge overhaul of players but every credit to them. They have backed their manager in January with seven signings. I’d imagine that (Marcus) Maddison and (MJ) Williams will come into their team and we’ll see what they produce. They are a big club and we look forward to playing them.
“Along with Bradford City they are the biggest club in the league. They have the best ground and the biggest supporter-base and they have the biggest history. There is no doubt about it they should be in and around the top three.”
How to watch:
Wanderers supporters can watch the clash with Salford City by purchasing an iFollow BWFC video match pass for just £10 you don’t have to miss a kick.
An iFollow BWFC video match pass will ensure supporters do not miss a minute of the action, with the entire match streamed through any compatible laptop, computer, tablet or mobile device in the United Kingdom.
Team News:
With all four new signings eligible for the game, Wanderers manager will have a selection headache as he assembles a starting XI that he hopes will build upon last weekend’s comfortable victory against Leyton Orient.
Lukas Jensen, MJ Williams, Dapo Afolayan and Marcus Maddison could come into contention alongside fit-again Shaun Miller and Ryan Delaney, who returns from suspension.
Bookies Odds:
Salford City win: 13/10
Draw: 9/4
Bolton Wanderers win: 2/1
Correct as of 05/02/2021 (1pm) on skybet.com
Form:
Wanderers recorded their first win of 2021 last weekend with a 2-0 victory over Leyton Orient at the University of Bolton Stadium, with Eoin Doyle notching his tenth goal of the campaign to date.
After a winless run of six matches, Ian Evatt’s side will be hoping to gather some momentum going into a busy February schedule.
The midweek postponement at Mansfield caused some frustration in the Wanderers camp and they will be looking to come out on top against the Ammies and complete the double over them.
Salford have won once in their last six encounters with their most recent game ending in a narrow last gasp defeat against neighbours Oldham Athletic at Boundary Park.
Last time out:
The two teams’ first ever league encounter against each other came at the University of Bolton Stadium earlier in the campaign with Wanderers coming out on top with a 2-0 victory in front of the Sky Sports cameras.
A strike from Eoin Doyle and a Jordan Turnbull own-goal proved to be enough for the hosts as they cruised to a comfortable victory.
Match Officials:
Referee: Ben Toner.
Assistant Referees: Andrew Dallison and Declan Ford.
Fourth Official: Robert Lewis.