By Mark Heys
August 17 2006

Tottenham Hotspur are the visitors to the Reebok Stadium this Saturday evening for what will be Bolton Wanderers first game of the new Premiership season.

Summer preparation and planning are now put into practise as top flight football graces the town of Bolton for the sixth consecutive season and what better way to see in a new football year than to welcome an established team such as Spurs.

It has been quite a mixed close season for both sides as Bolton have failed to win a game in six attempts whilst Tottenham have impressively won all but one of their summer fixtures.

Sam Allardyce has played down the bad run of form this week as Wanderers go in search of reclaiming a possible UEFA Cup place. It will be hard though to begin with, as injuries have taken their toll on an already thin Bolton squad during these last three months.

Ricardo Gardner picked up a fresh knee problem when these two teams last met five months ago and this is expected to keep him out of action until at least the middle of October.

Defensive collegue Joey O'Brien is also missing but there is better news for Nicky Hunt who came through last weekends friendly against AZ Alkmaar unscathed following a troublesome knee injury.

Abdoulaye Faye (knee) and Henrik Pedersen (achillies) are also out of contention but striker Kevin Davies (ankle) and recent signing Quinton Fortune (groin) could make the game.

South African utility player Fortune will be coming up against the side who rejected him as a young player prior to him having spells with Mallorca and Manchester United.

Another Tottenham old boy, Ian Walker, will be competing with Oman international Ali Al-Habsi for a place on the bench against his former employers whom he served for over a decade.

Spurs boss Martin Jol may hand debuts to summer signings Didier Zokora, Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Dimitar Berbatov but Irish international Robbie Keane remains a doubt with a thigh strain.

Midfielder Teemu Tainio could also be missing for the trip North with an ankle injury and England star Ledley King is not expected to return to action till next month following a close season knee problem

PREMIERSHIP RECORD

23/12/1995 TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 2 (Sheringham, Armstrong) BOLTON WANDERERS 2 (Green, Bergsson)

20/03/1996 BOLTON WANDERERS 2 (Curcic, Sellars) TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 3 (Howells, Fox, Armstrong)

23/09/1997 BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (Thompson) TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 1 (Armstrong)

01/03/1998 TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 1 (Neilsen) BOLTON WANDERERS 0

03/12/2001 TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 3 (Poyet, Ferdinand, Sheringham) BOLTON WANDERERS 2 (Ricketts, Wallace)

20/04/2002 BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (Holdsworth) TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 1 (Iversen)

20/10/2002 TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 3 (Keane 2, Davies) BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (Djorkaeff)

24/03/2003 BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (Okocha) TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 0

01/11/2003 TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 0 BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (Nolan)

17/04/2004 BOLTON WANDERERS 2 (Campo, Pedersen) TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 0

23/10/2004 TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 1 (Keane) BOLTON WANDERERS 2 (Jaidi, Pedersen)

01/02/2005 BOLTON WANDERERS 3 (Diouf, Ben-Haim, Davies) TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 1 (Defoe)

07/11/2005 BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (Nolan) TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 0

30/04/2006 TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 1 (Lennon) BOLTON WANDERERS 0

PREMIERSHIP FORM GUIDE:

Played: 14

Won: 6

Drawn: 3

Lost: 5

CONNECTIONS

Chris Armstrong, Gudni Bergsson, Chris Fairclough, Les Ferdinand, George Hunt, Don McAllister, Neil McNab, Ian Moores, Ian Walker.

IT HAPPENED WHEN BOLTON PLAYED SPURS

Spurs became the first opposing team to score at the Reebok Stadium when future Wanderer Chris Armstrong planted a header past Keith Branagan in the Premiership match between Bolton and Tottenham in September 1997.

In November 2003 Jay-Jay Okocha hit the Tottenham woodwork five times in an excellent individual performance. Despite this, the Nigerian could not score a league goal throughout that campaign.

Ex-Spur Gudni Bergsson gained Bolton a valuable point when he struck a late equaliser in the 2-2 draw at White Hart Lane ten years ago. Spurs had seemingly been cruising thanks to goals from Armstrong and Teddy Sheringham but Scott Green of Bolton set up a nervous finish prior to Bergsson's leveller from the edge of the area past current Wanderer Ian Walker.

A Kevin Nolan wonder goal from all of 30-yards gave the Wanderers their fourth consecutive home win against Spurs last season but England winger Aaron Lennon helped the London club gain revenge by netting the only goal at White Hart Lane the following April.

Israeli international Tal Ben-Haim headed home his only Bolton goal to date in this fixture back in February 2005. The Wanderers managed to kill the game off late on and win 3-1