Preview: Bolton Wanderers vs. Crawley Town

Steven Schumacher will attempt to claim his first win as Bolton Wanderers boss when his side face Crawley Town in Saturday’s League One fixture.

The hosts are sitting in ninth place in the League One standings, while the visitors are languishing in the relegation zone.

Match preview

© Imago

Bolton recently decided it was time for a change of manager, opting to dismiss Ian Evatt following an underwhelming run of form which saw them win twice in nine league games.

While the club searched for Evatt’s successor, interim boss Julian Darby oversaw an upturn in fortunes, seeing his side record a 1-0 away victory over Huddersfield Town, before claiming a 3-1 home win against Northampton Town.

Darby then handed over the reins to Schumacher following his appointment as Bolton’s new head coach, but unfortunately for the former Stoke City boss, he was unable to make it three consecutive victories in his first game in charge.

Instead, Schumacher saw his side fall to a narrow 1-0 away defeat against fellow playoff contenders Reading following Harvey Knibbs‘ 89th-minute penalty, leaving the Trotters in ninth place and outside the top-six on goal difference.

Schumacher will hope to experience better fortunes in his first home game as Bolton head coach, with the hosts looking to complete a league double over Crawley after clinching a 2-0 victory in September’s reverse fixture.

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Crawley are languishing in 22nd place in the League One table after winning six, drawing six and losing 15 of their 27 league matches.

The Reds may be six points adrift from safety, but they do at least have two games in hand over the teams sitting just outside the bottom four.

However, those games in hand may only be useful if Crawley can spark an upturn in results, having won just one of their previous nine league matches (D2, L6).

Their only victory in that period took place in their most recent away game against Mansfield, but they were unable to back up that 1-0 win in last Saturday’s home meeting with Wrexham, conceding the decisive goal in a 2-1 defeat the fifth of stoppage time after Bradley Ibrahim looked to have salvaged a point with a 90th-minute equaliser.

While they have found wins hard to come by this season, the Reds may be able to take inspiration that they recorded a 1-0 victory in their only previous away meeting with Bolton in January 2021.

Bolton Wanderers League One form:

Bolton Wanderers form (all competitions):

Crawley Town League One form:

Team News

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Bolton midfielder Kyle Dempsey remains sidelined with a long-term injury, while Ricardo Santos and Carlos Mendes Gomes have also been ruled out of the home fixture.

George Thomason will serve the first game of a two-match suspension after collecting his 10th yellow card of the season last weekend.

In positive news, Jay Mateta is available following a three-match ban, although he may have to settle for a place on the bench.

As for the visitors, they are expected to be without Joy Mukena and Josh Flint, while Toby Mullarkey is unlikely to be involved after missing the last three matches with a back issue.

Connal Trueman and Liam Fraser could feature in the matchday squad after joining the club on transfer deadline day.

Crawley boss Rob Elliot could be tempted to make at least a couple of changes to the side that lost to Wrexham, with Jeremy Kelly and Tola Showunmi among those who could be considered for a starting berth.

Bolton Wanderers possible starting lineup:
Southwood; Toal, Forrester, Johnston; Dacres-Cogley, Sheehan, Morley, Schon; Randall, Collins; Etete

We say: Bolton Wanderers 2-0 Crawley Town

Schumacher may have experienced a disappointing start to his tenure, but we think that he will take all three points from his first home game in charge, especially as Crawley have lost four of their previous six away league matches.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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