Crvena Zvezda – Bolton - Uefa Cup

Crvena Zvezda – Bolton

Premier League strugglers Bolton Wanderers travel to Serbia to take on Crvena Zvezda on Matchday 4 of Uefa Cup Group F. A win is a must for both teams but realistically speaking both are poor and have failed to impress at any stage of the tournament, Bolton could only manage draws at home to Braga and Aris though they did improve a bit to get a 2 - 2 in Munich against Bayern.

Crvena Zvezda on the other hand have yet to get a point. Like Bolton they saved their best performance for the game against Bayern and were only denied by a late Toni Kroos goal.
With two games left in the group then anything but 3 points tonight will put them out. Its quite surprising that a team that so nearly qualified for the champions league should struggle as they have but thats football for you. It should also be noted that they have a new boss, and since he has came in they have changed their style of play to a more attractive attacking brand, 8 goals in the last 3 league games will testify to this. The mood and atmosphere has taken a turn for the better since Kosanovic departed and in general, team morale has improved.

The thing that swayed me in favor of Crvena tonight is the news of players that new Bolton boss Gary Megson has left at home and wont travel, names such as Nicolas Anelka, Kevin Davies, Kevin Nolan, Andy O'Brien, Ricardo Gardner and Jussi Jaaskelainen. Ivan Campo is also illegitimate for the Uefa cup. They have an important league game against Wigan on Sunday and its obvious that the Wigan game has more importance to them.
On their home patch Crvena are very tough to break down and I don’t see Bolton getting too many chances to score tonight, Also the atmosphere will be electric, something Bolton players wont be used to either.

Seeing as both sides have to win it may be foolish to write off either but I feel that the home side will be much more fired up for this game. Bolton seem to have one eye on their vital weekend clash and that’s never a good preparation to have for any game, not to mind an away clash in Europe.
Home win

PICK
Crvena Zvezda (2.20 @ william Hill) 5 points