Portsmouth V Bolton Wanderers

Portsmouth V Bolton Wanderers

Kick-Off: Saturday 12^th September – 15:00 GMT

Venue: Fratton Park

Portsmouth

League Position: 20th

Recent Form: LLLL

Portsmouth are a team in serious trouble but the club has taken some huge strides in the right direction this week, with the club officially under the new ownership of Sulaiman Al-Fahim, and some new faces have already been added in an attempt to bolster Paul Hart’s weak squad. Has all this come to late, though, or or will it be enough to solve Portsmouth’s ongoing on-pitch issues because Pompey certainly need a quick-fix right now.

With four games now done and dusted, Portsmouth have yet to register a single point, losing all four of their opening four league fixtures. However, apart from Arsenal easing four past them at The Emirates, three of Portsmouth’s four defeats have been by a one goal margin, all by a 1-0 scoreline. Although any defeat is bad, at least Portsmouth haven’t been capitulating and there are signs that, with a bit of confidence and some morale boosting, Portsmouth could soon be on the road to recovery.

Aruna Dindane, Jamie O’Hara & Hassan Yedba have all been brought in on a loan basis, while Michael Brown has joined from Wigan and Tommy Smith has completed his move from Watford to Fratton Park, with his first appearance in a Pompey shirt already under his belt. Tommy Smith’s début came at home against Man City although it wasn’t the most memorable of débuts. Portsmouth did go down, surprise-surprise, in a 1-0 defeat, but David Nugent squandered a beautiful chance to give Portsmouth a share of the spoils and it’s clear for all to see that the players are seriously lacking in inner confidence.

Bolton Wanderers

League Position: 19th

Recent Form: LLL

Gary Megson’s Bolton have hardly been on fire themselves, also losing all their Premiership fixtures thus far. Two defeats at home to Sunderland & Liverpool, in combination with an away defeat at Hull City, means Bolton have already had to settle into the relegation spots. They’re currently sat in 19^th position, second from bottom, and maybe that’s a sign of things to come.

Bolton’s biggest concern is where the goals will come from. They did, strangely enough, manage to put two past a normally ship-tight Liverpool defence in their very last outing in the league but Liverpool were all over the place that day and, to add to Bolton’s woes, Liverpool still managed to come out on top despite not being their glorious best. Bolton tried to assert their physical presence in that game and that tactic worked a charm for all of 45 minutes as Bolton failed to maintain that approach for the full 90 minutes, with a second-half red card not helping their cause.

Bolton will approach this game in their usual manner, attempting to use their physical style to their advantage and hoping to seize on any set-pieces. Kevin Davies will be their biggest goal threat but he’s somewhat of an aerial specialist, having the ball at your feet and strutting your stuff is a totally different ball game. Something Bolton fail to do time and time again.

Head-to-Head:

Portsmouth W: 4 Bolton W: 4 Draws: 2

It’s clear for you all to see that this has been a very tricky fixture to predict in the past and this weekend’s clash is no different. Portsmouth have won the last two meetings though at Fratton Park, although, the only two draws between the two have come at Fratton Park, both finishing 1-1. We have no doubt that will be a popular correct score prediction this weekend.

Over 2.5 Goals: 3 Under 2.5 Goals: 7

It comes as no surprise that goals are few and far between when these two meet. The pair have met six times at Fratton Park since the Premiership was formed, with just two of those encounters producing three of more goals. Under 2.5 Goals would be a sensible call here, especially as neither boast any quality up top.

Match Verdict: Dull DRAW – 9/4 PaddyPower

Not the most glittering of selections and we won’t be ashamed to say we’re sitting on the fence here. Both sides have serious goalscoring issues so we suppose it would be typical that this game does end in a goal feast. However, that does look very unlikely, with another low scoring draw our prediction. We shouldn’t be too far off.

Match Odds:

Portsmouth – 13/8 SkyBet

Bolton Wanderers – 37/19 Expekt

Draw – 9/4 PaddyPower

SoccerBetting Tip: Correct Score 0-0 – 6/1 888Sport