Albion will move back up to third with the win and to within four points of leaders Leeds United. Bolton are 23rd and would go level on points with Rotherham United, who currently sit immediately outside the drop zone, should they win. The bottom four do look the poorest in the division, sometimes the table doesn't lie, Wigan in 20th are 6 clear of the relegation zone and are, perhaps the only other team likely to get sucked into the scrap to avoid the drop, Preston in 18th are 10 clears and like most of the lower mid tables teams, look a level above those at the foot of the table. Albion, yet another level above that, I suspect the visitors will arrive with some revenge in mind too, after losing the reverse fixture on opening day, since when they have collected an additional 1.08 points pg than Wanderers. Possession stats mean little nowadays, but WBA did have 71 % that day and are likely to be pushing towards that today, even on the road, Bolton are either happy to, or have to cede a lot of the ball and in their last home game, gave up well over 60% to a Stoke City team then under head coach Gary Rowett who was very defensive minded. Bolton played Brentford at Griffin Park recently and I touched upon those numbers ......

 

It is an odd one, they (Brentford) have not played well for 90 minutes in months, not played badly for more than 20 minutes, the 45 at Albion aside, but when they have been poor in those periods, they have conceded at a truly alarming rate. They remain a good squad with plenty of quality, have scored 33 goals which is the 7th most and 7 teams have conceded more/ the same and, in terms of xG and xGA they remain better than average, quite a bit better (circa 7th). It all comes down to that confidence issue, they need something to go their way at a key moment, rather than the opposite happening and expecting it to. No one has given up, heads have dropped for a minute or two, but they have bounced back in most games. They are vulnerable and nervous and, teams who press high and hard are giving them issues right now, but that is not Bolton and they would have to change their game significantly to do so .Wanderers have enjoyed just 30% possession in their last two starts and 34% in a recent game away to Millwall which is noteworthy as the Lions are ok with conceding the ball and sitting back themselves at the New Den. It is many weeks since the Bees have faced a team who will sit deep and TBH, it is probably what they need right now, the team have no distractions this week, the memorial service for Rowan was held at GP last week and it has only been about Bolton and three points for the last seven days, I heard that the mood at Jersey Road has been very positive and upbeat and there is  a good chance that we might see a return to form today in what might just be the Bees most important fixture in five Championship seasons...........at least until the next one !.