This is a very interesting game & certainly one that both Fulham & Bolton will target a win in to get their seasons going again after poor recent runs. Fulham have had a very mixed season so far with great highs such as convincingly beating Liverpool 3-1 & yet lows such as losing 1-0 at Birmingham City & that inconsistency in results has made it very hard to predict what Fulham will do. This home match is massive for Fulham because Roy Hodgson will want to start winning consistently again after a few recent setbacks & he will view this game against Bolton as a great opportunity to build on their excellent 3-0 home win against Blackburn. Fulham`s big strength is their solid team organisation which makes it very hard for teams to break them down easily & gives them a chance to get positive results in every match with the organised football they play. The big weakness Fulham have is their failure to score enough goals on a consistent basis & win the games they should & that is why they have drawn 5 of their 12 league games so far. The excellent 3-0 win over Blackburn Rovers should boost their confidence on that front & may well encourage Fulham to be more positive but they do lack a consistent goalscorer which puts pressure on the rest of the team & they do struggle to convert chances which does prove costly
Bolton
Bolton are enduring a terrible start to the season & their form has really tailed off in the last month leaving them 3rd bottom & looking set for another struggle against relegation. Gary Megson has had a tough fight on his hands trying to please the Bolton fans ever since he took over & he is now under greater pressure than ever & that is not good coming into a game like this. The Bolton squad are clearly lacking confidence & belief at present which is making it incredibly hard for them to get any sort of positive result & their incredibly poor defensive record is making it virtually impossible. Bolton have lost 5 of their last 6 games conceding 19 goals in the process & clearly that is a major problem that has to be sorted out quickly. The absolutley key to this game could well be who scores first because if Fulham score first they will then become very hard to break down & be beaten from that but if Bolton score first that will open the game up more and will make it a struggle for Fulham to win the game from that point.
Betting verdict
We are not expecting this game to be a classic football match because of the clash in styles & that leads us to believe that although it is very tempting to go for a Fulham home win, a scoring draw looks to offer more betting value as Bolton now know they have a real fight on their hands & they can show enough to share the points with Fulham here in what should be a very competitive match.
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Prediction:
Tip: X
Odd: 3.40
Bookie: Bet365
Stake: 6 /10
Tipster: Kather
