Bolton Wanderers produced a shock result in midweek when they beat Birmingham City 1-0 at St Andrews to hand The Trotters a desperately needed three points in their bid to avoid relegation down to League One.
That rare victory ended a run of seven league wins without a win for Saturday’s hosts which included recent defeats to Hull City, Bristol City, West Brom, Sheffield United and Preston North End.
Phil Parkinson’s boys now return to the Macron Stadium this Saturday afternoon as they look to replicate what their Lancashire rivals, Preston North End did to Norwich City during the week when Preston registered a shock 3-1 win at Deepdale against The Canaries.
A repeat of that result however looks highly unlikely as Bolton head into this clash on the back of four home matches without a win since their 2-1 victory over relegation rivals, Rotherham United, as The Trotters have lost to West Brom and Preston North End as well as draws with Stoke City and Reading.
Nevertheless, the midweek win at Birmingham City will have instilled new belief into Bolton’s squad and they may feel that Norwich City could be for the taking here after the former league leaders’ loss at Preston.
Onto Norwich City, and as mentioned earlier, The Canaries were handed a rare defeat in the Championship against Preston North End with the Preston manager, Alex Neil, putting one over his former employers with that emphatic win.
As for Norwich, manager Daniel Farke will be eager to see a positive reaction from his players following that disappointing loss, as they once again make their way up to Lancashire looking to bag an easy three points.
Bolton Wanderers represent less of a threat but Norwich know they can ill afford another slip-up here particularly with the likes of Sheffield United and West Brom breathing down their necks as the race for the top two automatic promotion spots starts to heat up.
Prior to that loss at Preston, Norwich City had put together a solid run of 13 away matches on the trot without defeat, and with the sound of that loss still ringing in their ears, they could well unleash a backlash upon Bolton Wanderers here.
It’s worth mentioning also, that 9 of Norwich City’s 16 away matches so far this season have witnessed the over 2.5 goal mark being beaten, and the visitors will no doubt be keen to set the record straight here with a convincing bounce-back win, with goals coming along for the ride. The over 2.5 goals market certainly seems attractive here.