Sky Live: Bolton host Aston Villa in the Sky Bet Championship
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Saturday 17 March 2018 16:36, UK
Bolton boss Phil Parkinson will check on the fitness of midfielder Darren Pratley before finalising his side to face Aston Villa on Saturday evening at the Macron Stadium.
Pratley suffered a knock in training but will hope to be passed fit to face Steve Bruce's promotion-chasing side, live on Sky Sports Football. Chinedu Obasi and Connor Hall, meanwhile, both scored for the Under-23s in their 3-1 victory over Barnsley on Monday.
But Parkinson told his pre-match press conference on Thursday that "they have no right to jump the queue" for a place in the first team.
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Neil Taylor will miss out for the visitors after failing to recover from a groin injury suffered in the surprise 3-1 defeat to QPR on Tuesday night. The loss leaves Steve Bruce's side seven points adrift of Cardiff in second place, with the play-offs now becoming the more likely route back to the Premier League.
Taylor's absence will be felt more as Alan Hutton is also sidelined with a muscular problem, as is on-loan Manchester United defender Axel Tuanzebe. Bruce is expected to hand James Bree just his second Championship start as a result of those injuries.
Opta stats
The last time these sides met in Bolton in a league match outside the top-flight was in August 1974 - Bolton won 1-0 with a goal from Paul Jones.
Villa have only failed to score in one of their last 20 league matches against Bolton, a 1-0 defeat in December 2006.
Bolton have not lost back-to-back home league matches since losing their first five home matches this season.
Robert Snodgrass has assisted 13 league goals this season - in only one season in English football has he registered more (16 in 2008/09 for Leeds United in League One).
The Trotters have collected five points from a possible 27 in Championship matches against sides currently in the top six (P9 W1 D2 L6).
Aston Villa have won 10 away matches this season in all competitions, as many as in the previous three seasons combined.
Prutton's prediction
The defeat to QPR was a real surprise for Villa after their big win against Wolves last weekend, but I can still see them beating Bolton. I think Bolton have got progressively better after a terrible start to the season and I think anything above the top three is a superb season's work. Villa should just shade this one, though.
Prutton predicts: 0-1 with Robert Snodgrass to score first (25/1 with Sky Bet)
