By james art Tuesday marks the start of another important and busy week for Wanderers with three games in seven days, starting with a trip to league leaders Birmingham City under the lights.
Ian Evatt’s men will be looking forward to trying to extend their league unbeaten run to six games after winning four of their last five league games.
Tuesday’s hosts are currently top of the table and seem to be coping well with the pressure of being pre-season favorites after a summer spending spree.
The Blues’ gamble in the summer to hand Chris Davies his first managerial role is going according to plan, with Birmingham winning eight of their first ten games so far.
Manager Quotes
Ian Evatt: “This is probably as tough as it gets, the toughest game of the season, the toughest away game of the season.
“It’s up to us to go and embrace it, enjoy it and try to find a way to get a positive result.” The players will be prepared, we will come up with a plan and hopefully on the day it is the right one.
“I think it will be a high standard game. I think they play with a style and brand that is more suited to the higher echelons of the game and I think we try to do the same to be aesthetically pleasing.
“We want to run the ball and we want to be aggressive without it and I think that’s not really going to change. They’re certainly not going to change because they’re flying and full of confidence, so I think it’s going to be a really good game.”
Birmingham City manager Chris Davies: “Bolton are a different side to Lincoln, they’re all about possession. They are quite physical but love to play.
“They have a good style and were in the final of the play-offs last year, so they will be one of the strongest teams in the league. It’s another test and another kind of challenge for us on Tuesday.”
Team news
Ian Evatt has revealed that George Thomason will be out until the end of November with a hamstring problem picked up in training. Eoin Toal’s fitness will be assessed once he has made the national team.
Gethin Jones and Jordi Osei-Tutu are making their way back to fitness, but Carlos Mendes Gomes is not yet ready to return. Wanderers will test goalkeeper Nathan Baxter ahead of the trip.
Birmingham will be without Christian Bielik, who is set to miss a couple of weeks after suffering defeat against Charlton Athletic. Emil Hanson will need to be assessed before Tuesday night after limping off at the weekend.
Lee Buchanan, Jay Stansfield and Luke Harris also miss out.
Forms Guide
In terms of the form table covering the last five games, Wanderers top that list after wins against Reading, Crawley, Northampton and Burton Albion, as well as a draw against Shrewsbury Town.
Last time second-half goals from Aaron Collins and Randall Williams secured all three points against Burton Albion to leave the Whites in 11th position on 17 points.
Birmingham’s start to the season has been well documented as they have emerged as the team to beat in League One so far. Eight wins, one draw and one defeat was enough to cement their position at the top of the tree.
A hard-fought victory away to Lincoln City was the latest win for Chris Davies’ side, who took their tally to 25 points from ten games.
Start
Tuesday 7:45 p.m.
Referee
Stephen Martin
He last refereed for Wanderers on 23 November 2021 in the Whites’ 3-0 win over Doncaster Rovers.
Wanderers TV
Audio passes will be available as always to UK based backers. Those based internationally can stream the game via Live Video Match Pass on Wanderers TV.
Click here to purchase your passes.