Premier League preview: Bolton v Swansea

19 April 2012 19:08

Bolton Wanderers may have a chance to climb out of the English Premier League relegation zone when they host Swansea City on Saturday.

Owen Coyle's Bolton are third from bottom on the table, two points behind 17th-placed Queens Park Rangers.

QPR face a tough assignment at home to Champions League-chasing Tottenham Hotspur, and Bolton have two games in hand over the teams immediately above and below them in the standings.

They have suffered consecutive defeats in their last two matches, going down 2-0 at Newcastle last time out and 3-0 at home to Fulham on April 7.

This weekend they welcome Swansea to the Reebok Stadium, and may be hoping to catch the Welsh outfit at something below their best.

Promoted Swansea are 12th on the table, 13 points clear of the bottom three, and all but assured of retaining their hard-won top-flight status.

Under manager Brendan Rodgers, they have acquitted themselves admirably during their first season in the Premier League.

They suffered a run of four defeats in succession between March 24 and April 11, but hit back with a 3-0 win at home struggling Blackburn last time out.

And according to Swansea forward Nathan Dyer, Bolton will be making a serious mistake if they expect an easy ride on Saturday.

"We spoke in the week about where we had gone wrong," he said.

"We said we had to start getting in people's faces again a lot more. That in-your-face-attitude starts from the front; pressing high and winning the ball back high up the pitch.

"Hopefully the victory will give us a bit of momentum going into the last four games because we've got to play as well as we did against Blackburn.

"We can't rest on our laurels; we've got to show the same attitude and give it 110 percent all the way to the end."

Neither manager has any new injury concerns to contend with, and Swansea boast a surprisingly clean bill of health at this late stage of the campaign.

Bolton continue to be without long-term absentees Stuart Holden, Chung-Yong Lee, Ricardo Gardner and Tyrone Mears.

But the home side will at least be buoyed by the news team-mate Fabrice Muamba, who collapsed after suffering a cardiac arrest in an FA Cup match against Tottenham last month, has been discharged from hospital.