The Golden Nuggets 2010/11 - English Premier League

By Sports Magician

TOP HALF FINISH

Owen Coyle left Burnley for Bolton last season and now we get a chance to see how he fares with a full season ahead of him. Coyle deservedly earned a reputation as one of the brightest up and coming managers in the game when he led Burnley on a shoe-string to the Premier League. The chance to move to a club with more resources and one that had been established in the Premier League was unsurprisingly too good an opportunity for him to turn down.

Bolton finished the season in 14th place - 11 points off a top half finish - and I can definitely see an improvement on that this season. Coyle has been able to keep the backbone of his side, Jussi Jaaskelainen, Gary Cahill and Kevin Davies. The addition of Martin Petrov is an excellent one, and Coyle hopes to retain the on-loan services of talented Arsenal youngster Jack Wilshere. Cahill will no doubt be the subject of speculation in the coming weeks for a possible departure, but if he does leave, Bolton have made it clear it won’t be for anything other than a substantial sum - from which they could improve the team and squad further.

The top eight places in the Premier League are near enough set in stone in whichever order you like - Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, Tottenham, Aston Villa and Everton. Leaving two remaining spots in the top half of the league to be fought for by the likes of Birmingham, Blackburn, Stoke, Fulham, Sunderland, Bolton, West Ham and possibly one of the promoted clubs - Newcastle. Birmingham exceeded expectations last season and are by no means certainties to repeat that relative success. Those sides fighting for the right to fill those 9th and 10th spots are much of a muchness, and for that reason alone value lies in a club like Bolton, who are priced up to finish 14th - effectively.

PICK: 3* BOLTON TO FINISH IN THE TOP HALF (1ST - 10TH) @ 5.00 (BLUESQ)

TOP MIDLANDS SCORER

Stan James have priced up a market for the top Midlands scorer in this season’s Premier League. The players involved are as follows;

Gabriel Agbonlahor (Aston Villa) - Scorer of 13 Premier League goals last season, Villa’s speed merchant still has a way to go to become the finished article.

John Carew (Aston Villa) - Scorer of 10 Premier League goals last season, the Norwegian forward improved as the season went on.

Cameron Jerome (Birmingham) - Scorer of 10 Premier League goals last season, one of many Birmingham success stories from the last campaign.

Nikola Zigic (Birmingham) - About to embark on his first season in English football after leaving the Mestalla for St. Andrew’s. 

Kevin Doyle (Wolves) - Scorer of 9 Premier League goals last season, a major success for Wolves, led the line well and always looked a threat.

Steven Fletcher (Wolves) - Scorer of 8 Premier League goals last season, his goals weren’t enough to keep Burnley up, and he’ll join Doyle in Wolves’s new look attack.

Graham Dorrans (West Brom) - A key player in West Brom’s promotion to the Premier League, likely to be playing Premier League football after this coming season - with or without West Brom.

Roman Bednar (West Brom) - One of a number of forwards at West Brom’s disposal, but not Premier League class in my opinion.

In this market we like Nikola Zigic - who happened to have an awful World Cup for Serbia. He is a better player than he showed in South Africa and given the right service will score goals. Like most big men, he is underrated with the ball at his feet, although he has his moments of looking cumbersome. The Aston Villa pair are rightly favoured to win out in this market, but if Zigic adapts well to the English game there is no reason why he can’t make it a lot closer than the odds suggest.

PICK: 2*NIKOLA ZIGIC TO BE TOP MIDLANDS SCORER @ 9.00 (STAN JAMES)

Sports Magician