By Chris Burton Last updated: 25th March 2008
Davies: Looking upwards
Kevin Davies believes that Bolton need three more wins to maintain their Premier League status.
The Trotters picked up a valuable point in a 0-0 draw with Manchester City on Saturday, a result which moves them onto 26 for the season and just one behind Birmingham in 17th place.
Gary Megson's side face a difficult end of season run in though, with a home tie against Sunderland on 3rd May the only time they will face a fellow struggler in their remaining seven games.
However, Davies feels that the points haul required to ensure survival may not be as high as in previous years and is targeting Saturday's showdown with Arsenal on Saturday as the ideal time to start an ascent up the table.
"It's not going to be as many as people think, maybe 35, who knows?" he told the club's official website.
"But we're only looking as far as Saturday at the moment.
"We normally start well against the big boys and if we can get an early goal, who knows?
"Confidence is a little bit low with a few of us not scoring many, but we'll keep our heads up.
"We've got a clean sheet and a point (against City) and that's taken us another point clear of Fulham.
"Now it looks like Birmingham are the ones to catch but we'll keep looking up at all those teams we can catch.
"The lads are committed. I think everybody saw that on Saturday. We'd had a game midweek and they hadn't, but we tried our hardest and I thought we did well."
Bolton have an impressive record against the Gunners at the Reebok Stadium, winning the last three league meetings between the two sides, and Davies is confident that the Trotters can heap more misery on Arsene Wenger's faltering side this time around.
"They have stuttered a little bit and I think it's a good time to be playing them," he said.
"Hopefully, we can get a full house and , with the fans behind us, lift our game and get the result we need.
"Arsenal are a team we've got results against in the past and this is the one we're obviously looking forward to now.
"We always seem to raise our game against the big boys."
| Time | Fixture |
|---|---|
| Saturday 13th September | |
| Barclays Premier League | |
| 12:45 | Liverpool vs Man Utd |
| 15:00 | Blackburn vs Arsenal |
| 15:00 | Fulham vs Bolton |
| 15:00 | Newcastle vs Hull |
| 15:00 | Portsmouth vs Middlesbrough |
| 15:00 | West Brom vs West Ham |
| 15:00 | Wigan vs Sunderland |
| 17:30 | Man City vs Chelsea |
| Sunday 14th September | |
| Barclays Premier League | |
| 13:30 | Stoke vs Everton |
| Monday 15th September | |
| Barclays Premier League | |
| 20:00 | Tottenham vs Aston Villa |
| Saturday 20th September | |
| Barclays Premier League | |
| 12:00 | Sunderland vs Middlesbrough |
| 15:00 | Blackburn vs Fulham |
| 15:00 | Liverpool vs Stoke |
| 15:00 | West Ham vs Newcastle |
| 17:30 | Bolton vs Arsenal |
| Sunday 21st September | |
| Barclays Premier League | |
| 12:00 | West Brom vs Aston Villa |
| 14:00 | Chelsea vs Man Utd |
| 15:00 | Hull vs Everton |
| 15:00 | Man City vs Portsmouth |
| 15:00 | Tottenham vs Wigan |
| Time | Result |
|---|---|
| Sunday 31st August | |
| Barclays Premier League | |
| Aston Villa 0 - 0 Liverpool | |
| Sunderland 0 - 3 Man City | |
| Chelsea 1 - 1 Tottenham | |
| Saturday 30th August | |
| Barclays Premier League | |
| Arsenal 3 - 0 Newcastle | |
| Middlesbrough 2 - 1 Stoke | |
| Everton 0 - 3 Portsmouth | |
| Hull 0 - 5 Wigan | |
| West Ham 4 - 1 Blackburn | |
| Bolton 0 - 0 West Brom | |
| Monday 25th August | |
| Barclays Premier League | |
| Portsmouth 0 - 1 Man Utd | |
| Sunday 24th August | |
| Barclays Premier League | |
| Man City 3 - 0 West Ham | |
| Wigan 0 - 1 Chelsea | |
| Saturday 23rd August | |
| Barclays Premier League | |
| Fulham 1 - 0 Arsenal | |
| Newcastle 1 - 0 Bolton | |
| Liverpool 2 - 1 Middlesbrough | |
| Stoke 3 - 2 Aston Villa | |
| West Brom 1 - 2 Everton | |
| Tottenham 1 - 2 Sunderland | |
| Blackburn 1 - 1 Hull | |
| Sunday 17th August | |
| Barclays Premier League | |
| Man Utd 1 - 1 Newcastle | |
| Pos | Team | P | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chelsea | 3 | 7 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 3 | 7 |
| 3 | Manchester City | 3 | 6 |
| 4 | Arsenal | 3 | 6 |
| 5 | West Ham United | 3 | 6 |
| 6 | Middlesbrough | 3 | 6 |
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