What we thought was the start of a resurgence after the Wolves results was quickly snuffed out by Niko Kranjcar’s stunner of a strike to end the Tottenham match. Still, new signing Daniel Sturridge has started like multiple houses on fire with two goals in his first two matches. The young Chelsea lad has provided a creative spark to the offense. The excitement, while warranted, is something to be wary of. Let’s not forget Elmander’s start to the season and how he’s only scored one goal in his last 12 league games.
Hit the jump for a full match report and highlights.
Loan signings, misfiring strikers, and Scottish bromances aside, the prospect of a match against Everton is always a worrying one. Earlier this season, they were just one of the sides to claim points in stoppage time from the Wanderers with a great goal from Jermaine Beckford. After a biblically awful start to the season, Everton are on their way back to the top half of the table.
Bolton decided that it would be nice to start the scoring off early in this one .A questionable call at best on a challenge between Paul Robinson (of course) and Victor Anichebe led to a Stuart Holden free kick that found the head of Gary Cahill about 12 yards out. The header deflected off Heitinga and past Tim Howard for the goal. 1-0.
A scary moment for Zat Knight in the 27th minute as a challenge didn’t go well for him. Something felt wrong with his knee and after just two steps, he needed to be subbed off. David Wheater would come on for his Premier League debut. A bit of an Opta stat here: before the injury, Knight had played 90 minutes in each of Bolton’s last 50 premier league games. That’s a bit of a massive statistic.
I mentioned earlier in this article something or other about not getting too excited about Sturridge. I was wrong. Get excited. Chung-Yong Lee got his head onto a ball in the box and mannaged to get it in the direction of Daniel Sturridge who was making a quick run into the box. His volley from the edge of the six-yard box found its way into the back of the net. Three goals in three games. Another Opta stat: that’s as many goals in his last 31 Premier League appearances.
Even though this result was largely sloppy, it was a brilliant sight to behold. The score probably should have been 3-0 on a beautiful piece of play between Sturridge and Holden. A ball down the flank might have gone (didn’t look like it did) over the touchline but a great backheel found its way to Holden who finished emphatically even though the whistle had gone.
Chung-Yong Lee has to start the next match. His creativity added something else today. Wheater was absolutely brilliant and seems to be a massively good bargain signing by Coyle. Elmander was decent at best, not sure he should start the next match even though it would be a massive shot to his confidence. Regardless, the Wanderers are just one point behind 7th place now and 3 from 6th. Let's have it!