ASTON VILLA vs BOLTON - MATCH PREVIEW

By Ryan Ghee
August 12 2005

Aston Villa will kick-off the new Premiership season tomorrow with a home match against Bolton Wanderers. After a disappointing last campaign, Villa will be looking to get off to a flying start to kick-start their search for European football.

Aston Villa team news: David O'Leary has a near fully-fit squad to pick from for the first match of the season with Mark Delaney being the only injury doubt. New signings Kevin Phillips, Patrik Berger and Aaron Hughes are expected to make their competetive debuts with fellow new-boy Stuart Taylor likely to be on the bench. Martin Laursen has recovered from his long-term knee injury and should start at centre-back alongside Olof Mellberg.

Bolton team news: Sam Allardyce is likely to start Radhi Jaidi in defence as Bruno N'Gotty will start a three-game suspension. Kevin Davies will probably play as a lone striker as new signing Jared Borgetti has been given time off to recover from a busy schedule in Mexico.

History of this fixture: The history of this fixture is in favour of the Villans as Bolton have won just once at Villa Park since 1955. The two teams have met each other 146 times, with Villa winning 57 of the games, Bolton winning 55 and 34 of the matches ending in a draw. This fixture ended 1-1 last season with Hierro scoring a spectacular own goal for Villa before Gary Speed rescued a point for Bolton. In the reverse fixture, Aston Villa came out on top with a 2-1 win at the Reebok Stadium.

Match Betting: Aston Villa win - 11/10
Bolton win - 11/5
Draw - 2/1

(According to Ladbrokes.com)