The Holiday Season Fixtures

When you are a British football supporter, the Christmas and New Year holiday season is always an important part of the year. There are a lot of matches over this period and a good holiday season can make a lot of difference to your clubs standing in the league, and therefore to their final finishing position.

Because of the number of games and the (usually) inclement weather, the pitches sometimes leave a little to be desired for Premier League players and injuries abound - thus the clubs with squads full of internationals who have "strength in depth" have something of an advantage. I don't think Bolton Wanderers fall into that category.

So the Christmas fixtures start this coming weekend and we are at home to Birmingham on the 22nd, away to Everton on Boxing Day, away to Sunderland on the 29th, and at home to Derby on the 2nd of January. Now, Everton are currently riding high in the table in 6th place, Birmingham are 15th, Sunderland are 17th and Derby are at the bottom in 20th spot. Now we (and in that "we" I include you dear reader, for now you are a Bolton supporter by proxy), we are 16th.

I don't expect us to win at Goodison Park (Everton), but we have to take all three points against Birmingham, Sunderland and Derby. 9 points over the Christmas break will see us on 23 points for the season so far and well on our way to Premiership survival!