Portsmouth v Bolton Wanderers,
Barclays Premier League,
Saturday 18 April, 2009,
Fratton Park, 3pm Kick-Off.
Wanderers face the long trip to the South coast for the game against Portsmouth, looking for their third double of the season to add to West Ham and Middlesbrough.
The Trotters will be hoping to achieve their first maximum away from The Reebok in 2009 and will be hoping for a repeat of the 2-1 victory over Portsmouth at The Reebok in December.
Both Matthew Taylor and Andy O'Brien could face their former club in a game where Bolton could reach the magical 40 point mark. Taylor made over 200 appearances for the Fratton Park outfit during his five and a half years whilst O'Brien made 37 in his 2 year stay.
There have been 94 encounters between the two sides, with Bolton winning 41 of those including 8 away wins, 21 draws and 32 Portsmouth wins.
Portsmouth meanwhile have the chance to go level on points with the Whites despite having played a game less and boast form of just a single loss in their last seven matches.
The referee for this weekend's match is Phil Dowd, who last refereed The Wanderers in the memorable 3-2 victory over Spurs. Mr Dowd has issued 128 yellow cards and 6 reds in his 39 matches this season.
Team News
Danny Shittu (calf) remains a doubt after being replaced at half time at Chelsea last week. Ricardo Vaz Te is still out with a long term knee problem as is Joey O'Brien with a similar injury. Mark Davies still remains on the sidelines with a knee injury sustained during the Fulham match.
Portsmouth have Glen Johnson back available after suspension, whilst Sean Davis could be fit.
Opposition Manager- Paul Hart
Paul Hart was installed as Pompey manager until the end of the season in February, replacing Tony Adams.
Hart was a defender who enjoyed five year spells at both Blackpool and Leeds with shorter spells at Stockport County, Nottingham Forest, Sheffield Wednesday, Birmingham City and Notts County. In total, he amassed 567 appearances and 39 goals.
He started his managerial career at Chesterfield in 1988 until 1991 before moving into youth team football with Leeds and then Nottingham Forest. After success with the Forest under 19s he was promoted to first team manager after 10 years out of the managerial hotseat.
He took Forest to the play offs in 2003 but they were beaten in the semi finals against Sheffield United. In 2004 he parted company with the Nottingham side but was snapped up just a month later by Barnsley.
Hart left Oakwell a year later after failing to mount a promotion challenge. A short spell at Rushden and Diamonds ensued before taking the Portsmouth job on 9th February of this year.
Key Player- Peter Crouch
Peter Crouch is now in his second spell at Portsmouth after playing for the club from July 2001 to March 2002. In his first spell he scored 19 goals in just 39 games.
Crouch began as a trainee at Tottenham before a move to QPR as a youngster. It was from QPR that he had his first spell at Portsmouth before moving to Villa, then on to Southampton following a spell on loan at Norwich.
From Southampton he signed for Liverpool, where he stayed until summer 2008 before Harry Redknapp signed him.
Crouch has amassed total transfer fees in excess of £24m in his career and has scored 83 league goals in 274 league appearances. This season he has 11 league goals, including a goal at the Reebok earlier this season.
Crouch currently has 32 international caps and 15 goals.
Listen Live
If you can't make it to Fratton Park on Saturday afternoon, you can listen to live uninterrupted commentary on Wanderers World with the club's official commentator Phil Gittins and club journalist Robert Urbani. The broadcast starts at 2.30pm.
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By Gavin Patterson
