Bolton vs Birmingham Predictions

Bolton have been the surprise packages of the Championship so far, unbeaten in the league, and seemingly unfazed by a summer of internal strife, which saw the players go on strike at one point.

On the opening weekend, Bolton gained the result of the day on the Saturday, beating just-relegated West Brom away from home 2-1 to secure an away win. They had only won once on the road last season so to do it in this fashion was hugely impressive. They followed that up with a 2-2 draw against a quality Bristol City. Whilst they would have been happy with a point before the match, to go 2-0 up and lose that lead will have been disheartening.

However, in the past week they have gained two positive results. They were knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Leeds away from home, although they gave them the closest match they have had this season by only losing 2-1. In their last game, Bolton secured a crucial three points by beating Reading 1-0 away from home. These results will give them fantastic confidence that they can stay up this year.

Indeed, any team that has underestimated Bolton has been found out quickly. They play an aggressive style of football, as well as showing their expertise at set-pieces, with new signing Josh Magennis an astute signing by the club to cause mayhem in the box.

On the other hand, Bolton’s opponents Birmingham have really struggled for goals this season.

Whilst they scored twice in their first game against Norwich at home, which ended 2-2 after a last-minute equaliser from Norwich, the team have not scored in three games since. They lost 1-0 to Middlesbrough in their second match, which isn’t actually a bad result considering how imperious they have been at home in recent times.

However, a dour 2-0 loss to Reading in the Carabao Cup was followed by an even more bland goalless home draw against Swansea on Friday. The team dominated the game and had multiple chances to thrash Swansea and put the game to bed. However, they were simply unable to find a way through and this will really worry Garry Monk for the rest of the season. The team needs to become more clinical. New striker Omar Bogle had a few promising moments but it will take time for him to gel with the team.

If Birmingham do not improve this lack of goal threat, then it could be another season spent in the bottom half of the league. They have quality throughout the team though to be much higher, with attackers like Jota and defenders like Harlee Dean, .

We do back Birmingham to score in this game however. They will have marked this game as a must-win and will be fired up to get a result. Garry Monk will surely have worked on his side’s finishing in training and it could pay off. However, we think Bolton will score as well, with their danger at set-pieces meaning they are always a threat.

So, we think BTTS could a winner in this game, although with both sides leaning towards a defensive set-up, it could be a low scoring game of 1-1.