I always get emotional this time of year. What am I going to do when I don;t have the Wanderers to elate or disappoint me every weekend? I'll probably have to pick up a real hobby. Anyway, no use in worry about that just yet as there's 90 minutes left to be played this season. Manchester City will make the short trip to the Reebok, a stadium at which they are winless in their last 5 games. Both teams are playing for pride at this point, and both managers will want to end their first full season in charge on high note. This is especially applicable for Owen Coyle, as he will not want to leave the fans with a 5th straight defeat. This is of course the same match up that we had on the final day two years ago, a loss which placed us in 13th, however I'm thinking it might be a different story this time.
Mancini will have pretty much a full squad to select from, and with the lure of securing 3rd from Arsenal, will probably play a full strength team. Up front Tevez will be looking for goals as he currently is tied for top scorer with Berbatov on 21 goals. Joe Hart has really come into his own this season, putting in great performance after great performance, something that will be topped perfectly by a final day clean sheet. This by no means will be an easy game.
Bolton meanwhile do still have some injuries to deal with. Muamba, a player who has been quietly solid for a lot of the season, looks to be out with a knock picked up against Blackpool. None of our long termers have made an unfortunate recovery, although Holden has returned to Bolton to watch the final game. Adam Blakeman and Josh Vela, two regulars in the reserves, have been included in the squad, so it will be interesting to see just how much of a look in Coyle gives them. If he plays, this will be Elmander's last match for the club, as he looks set to head for Turkey. It's been an up and down stay at the club for the Swede, mostly down, although he managed to come good for a bit this Fall. I won't be sorry to see the back of him, but do wish him luck with the rest of his career.
A lot of the team has already checked out mentally, ever since that disastrous match at Wembley, but I'm rather hoping they'll come back for a bit. Despite our disappointing run of late, it's been a great season. Coyle picked us up in 19th, and tomorrow we have a shot to finish 8th. Our FA Cup run ended horribly, but we shouldn't forget that up until that point it was great. We've been playing some good football, and overall have had a good time this season. So for one last time this season, come on you White Men!