Burnley vs Bolton Wanderers: Burnley need to win to fend of relegation fears
Burnley start the day in 14th and face Bolton who are in the relegation zone but will go ahead of their Lancashire neighbours with a win.
Burnley have such a good home record that you instinctively feel they should be tucked away safely in mid-table. But a raucous home support and Graham Alexander's unerring penalties will only take Burnley so far ... and just lately even the rock solid home record has been on the slide. Burnley are without a win since October, since then four draws and three defeats have seen the promoted club drop into danger. If Burnley can win this game then relegation fears can be put away until next year - but a defeat will drop the Clarets right into the dogfight.
Bolton won its last game against, now, second bottom West Ham and with the Wigan game postponed will have had 11 days between games. But after a morale boosting win, Bolton may well have fancied taking on an inconsistent Wigan team and possibly taking some real momentum into this game. Bolton have eight goals and only one defeat in the last four games and will be confident of inflicting on Burnley a second home defeat of the season. Klasnic has scored four goals in the last four games and is starting to look a real threat, he could be worth consideration as a goalscorer.
Burnley vs Bolton Wanderers; Kick Off 2:00pm 26 Dec 2009
Prediction Panel
Our panel contains both Squarefootball writers and readers, the writers are marked: (sqf).
Dave Blackburn : 2 - 0
Chris Cox : 1 - 1
Graham Enwright : 2 - 0
Sue Gardener : 0 - 1
Chris Goodwin : 1 - 1
Paul Grech (sqf) : TBC
Colin Illingworth (sqf) : 2 - 1
Hugh Larkin (sqf) : TBC
Peter Lee : 1 - 1
Don McMahon : 2 - 1
Antony Melvin (sqf) : 1 - 1
Paul O'Meara (sqf) : TBC
Dave Nash : 1 - 0
Stephen Orford (sqf) : TBC
Tony Ratton : 2 - 1
Peter Rendle : 1 - 1
Dan Taylor : 2 - 1
Andy Wakeman : 2 - 0
Isaac Williams : TBC
Mark Williams : 2 - 2
Panel Verdict
The panel is expecting another Burnley home win 2-1.
Home: 8; Draw: 6; Away: 1; TBC: 5.
* Do we have it right, or do you know better? Please don't bother with derisory comments on the predictions after the match - unless you also pulled us up before it!
