Season › 2011-12 › News

Everton vs Bolton Wanderers

Match Preview

With three points already in the bag for 2012 following the New Year's Day surprise at The Hawthorns, where Victor Anichebe plundered a victory from a game that deserved no winner, Everton play their first home fixture of the year against struggling Bolton Wanderers.

The two teams met at the Reebok Stadium as recently as the end of November where Everton ran out comfortable winners against the ten-man Trotters and, buoyed by a four-match unbeaten run and the anticipated return of Landon Donovan, the Blues will be confident of doing the double over the Premier's League's bottom club.

Of course, things are rarely so cut and dried and David Moyes's men have struggled under the weight of expectation at Goodison against the League's supposedly weaker sides — a home draw against Norwich and defeats to Stoke and QPR have limited the Blues to just three wins on their own turf this season.

The common threads: momentary lapses of concentration at the back and a chronic lack of cutting edge up front. In terms of the former, a run of five games with just three conceded suggests that Moyes is getting his house in order in defence, particularly now that Sylvain Distin has returned.

And though Anichebe has plenty to do to prove his strike at West Brom wasn't another isolated incident in a long barren spell, he and Donovan will provide competition for places in the forward areas that will hopefully spur on the visibly ageing duo of Loius Saha and Tim Cahill.

Of course, the competition for places only exists if Moyes is willing to create it. His first-choice striking partnership has one League goal between them this season, with precious little to suggest that return will improve any time soon, and yet his joint-top scorer, Apostolos Vellios, watched the proceedings at The Hawthorns from the stands.

Denis Stracqualursi has been favoured over the Greek in recent weeks, essentially since he replaced him as a substitute against Stoke a month ago, but though the Argentine has put himself about well coming off the bench, he has no goals to show for his efforts.

Against the backdrop of Moyes's recent selection history and the possibility that Anichebe won't be deemed sufficiently match-fit to start, it could well be Saha and Cahill who kick off against Owen Coyle's beleaguered outfit.

Given the niggling injuries that have disrupted the Festive period, you can understand the manager's prudence. Marouane Fellaini and Seamus Coleman remain serious doubts with abductor and thigh strains respectively, Royston Drenthe may not have recovered from the illness that ruled him out at West Brom and it's not clear whether Jack Rodwell's substitution against the Baggies was precautionary or because his hamstring had again flared up.

That leaves the man of the hour, Mr Donovan. Given that his arrival has been so hotly anticipated and that his time at Everton will again be so short, it's highly likely that Moyes will hand him an automatic start. Certainly his pace, directness and invention will be a welcome addition to a fairly moribund side that sorely lacked some of the same qualities from Coleman and Drenthe on Sunday.

Bolton, meanwhile, are in some fairly dire straits, with confidence at a dangerously low ebb amid a run of poor results that has, not surprisingly, left them rooted to the foot of the Premier League. Since their inexplicable 5-0 demolition of Stoke in early November, they've played eight, won one, drawn one and lost six.

Curiously, though, they've won three times on the road — presumably enjoying the escape from the pressure cooker at home — and that should serve as a warning sign to Everton that they will be no pushover.

» Read more

• Moyes: Donovan looks ready
• Live Matchday Forum

---

---

Reader Comments (71)

Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer

About these ads