EPL Betting Game Week 3 – Bolton Wanderers vs. Birmingham City

The clash between Bolton Wanderers and Birmingham City on Sunday is rather compelling to my mind.

Both sides have had a strong-ish start to the season, collecting four points out of a possible six in the first two weeks, which puts them ahead of clubs like Aston Villa, Everton and Liverpool in the table, for now at least.

This early summation on the season is a nice encomium to their clash and suggests they might stack up rather entertainingly at Reebok Stadium.

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Soccer Betting Line:

Bolton -½ +110 +110 2½ O +120 U -140 Draw +225

Birmingham +½ -130 +230 2½ O +120 U -140 Draw +225

Match Time: 08:30 AM Eastern Time (14:30 Local Time) Sunday August 29, 2010

Soccer Betting Verdict: Coyle will be aiming to lead his men to a third consecutive victory over Birmingham when they visit on Sunday. Bolton Wanderers enter the clash as the favourites, albeit just a smidgen above Evens, at +110.

Bolton are after a successful outing at West Ham United where they defeated the Hammers 3-1 and took their first win on the season. Opening day they played to a scoreless draw at home to Fulham.

Newly appointed manager Owen Coyle was impressed by his side’s effort, particularly after the interval, praising the two key goals scored by Elmander. In some ways, West Ham United unravelled in the late stages, giving Bolton more than enough looks at their keeper.

Bolton’s head-to-head on the last season against Birmingham City augurs well for them. Both matches were played to a 2:1 score and each time Bolton were the winners.

Alex McLeish and Co. beat Blackburn Rovers in week 2 of Premiership action and many have that win rather fortunate. In fact, Alex was the first to admit Blackburn had them under the cosh. He even went on to say Sam Allardyce would be disappointed not to go away with something.

If even the manager isn’t convinced by his side’s performance and suggests they were lucky to win, then we are on to something.

How this translates into this next clash remains to be seen but what I do know is that scraping by is not the way to go through the schedule.

It follows therefore that Birmingham City will be hard pressed to take something away from Reebok Stadium. They would need more than a few bits of quality to have a chance at three points, which is trading at +230.

Certainly, the draw is a feasible outcome at +225 but that will depend on Bolton more than anything else and from what I have seen from them and their manager Coyle I am fairly certain that they will not be content to allow Birmingham to take the game to them.

They will take it to the visitors and more likely than not, they will go for the win.

Soccer Free Picks: Bolton +110 | Over 2 ½ +120