Norwich City vs Bolton Wanderers - Match Preview

By Alex Moore / February 4, 2012

Paul Lambert will be hoping his side€™s 3-0 loss to man crush and mentor Martin O€™Neill€™s Sunderland during the week was but a blip on the road to Premier League survival as Norwich City welcome Bolton Wanderers to Carrow Road. It€™s not a good time to play the Trotters €“ Owen Coyle€™s men have picked themselves up somewhat after a horrendous start to the season, drawing with Arsenal and beating Liverpool in their last two games. Yes they€™ve lost Gary Cahill, but they€™ve acquired Tim Ream who I was fortunate enough to watch live once playing for the New York Red Bulls. Perhaps not entirely in the same league (in terms of quality, now they literally are in the same league of course) but a solid acquisition nonetheless. Add to this Ryo Miyaichi from Arsenal, (Owen Coyle knows a good loan signing when he sees one) and Marvin Sordell, who€™s been a big fish in a small pond over at Watford, and the Canaries are up against it. Of course Lambert€™s been fairly busy during the window too €“ capturing Jonny Howson from Leeds and Ryan Bennett from Peterborough, for a reported total of around £5 million. The unfortunate thing is that neither can play for a while €“ Howson€™s out injured and Bennett€™s been loaned back to his former club for a month. City€™s 3-0 loss midweek was frankly embarrassing €“ they were completely outclassed and part of their problem is perhaps down to their over -reliance on Wes Hoolahan for the creative spark at times. It€™s all very well Lambert wanting young, hungry players, but against the likes of Stephane Sessegnon, €˜hungry€™ players like Andrew Crofts who are perhaps lacking just a tad in the technical area, will be second best a lot of the time in the Premier League. However, you can€™t criticise Norwich this season, they€™ve been absolutely superb and though the Sunderland loss was a crushing one, it was their first since the 27th of December.

Team News:

Norwich City: The aforementioned duo of Bennett and Howson are both out. James Vaughan is nearing match fitness (he scored for the reserves last week) but probably won€™t make the bench, and Declan Rudd is still out (though Jed Steer has recently proved himself a more than capable replacement). Bolton Wanderers: Tyrone Mears and Lee Chung-Young are both missing with broken legs that should be mended reasonably soon, Stuart Holden€™s also out along with Marcos Alonso Mendoza and Ricardo Gardner. Probable Line Ups: Norwich (4-4-2): Ruddy, R. Martin, Whitbread, Ayala, Naughton, Pilkington, Johnson, Hoolahan, Surman, Morison, Jackson Bolton (4-5-1): Bogdan, Steinsson, Knight, Wheater, Ricketts, Eagles, Reo-Coker, M. Davies, Muamba, Petrov, Ngog

My Prediction:

I think this will be a great game €“ two advocates of fluent, attacking football. Bolton on the up, Norwich will want to react to their midweek loss. Could be a draw, but I€™ve underestimated the Canaries in every preview I€™ve done so far and they€™ve gone one better, I may be jinxing it, but I€™ll go for a 2-1 home win.