Preview:Bolton Wanderers vs Bradford City - prediction, team news, lineups

Bolton Wanderers welcome Bradford City to the Toughsheet Community Stadium on Saturday in a huge clash at the top of the League One table.

The visitors currently sit third, just one point ahead of Steven Schumacher’s side in fourth, and will be desperate to get back to winning ways.

Match preview

Bolton are eyeing a return to the Championship for the first time since 2019 and have made an excellent start to the season, amassing seven wins, five draws and three defeats from their opening games.

After suffering a disappointing 3-0 defeat to Burton Albion in October, they have won five in a row across all competitions and have scored 15 goals in the process.

The Trotters are also unbeaten at home and have the league’s top scorer, Mason Burstow, in their ranks and in-form winger Amario Cozier-Duberry.

Burstow has scored seven league goals so far this season, the same as Plymouth Argyle’s Lorent Tolaj and Barnsley’s Davis Keillor-Dunn, while Cozier-Duberry has more goal contributions than any other player with 13.

Bolton will be full of confidence heading into Saturday’s game, while Bradford are in the midst of a slump in form.

Graham Alexander’s side picked up seven wins in their first ten league games to go top of the table, but have since failed to win any of their last five.

The Bantams have also lost their last three games across all competitions, with League Two strugglers Cheltenham Town notably knocking them out of the FA Cup.

Bradford will be desperate to get things back on track against one of their promotion rivals and they have only suffered one loss away from home in the league so far this season.

Bolton Wanderers League One form:

L W L W W W

Bolton Wanderers form (all competitions):

L W W W W W

Bradford City League One form:

W D D D D L

Bradford City form (all competitions):

D D D L L L

Team News

Midfielder Ethan Erhahon and winger Thierry Gale are in contention to feature on Saturday after recovering from injury, but Schumacher has admitted that Bolton’s form means it is “going to be hard for them to get in the squad.”

Erhahon has missed their last six games with a thigh issue, while Gale has been sidelined with a knee ligament injury.

As a result, Josh Sheehan and Xavier Simons are expected to continue in midfield and Cozier-Duberry will likely be joined out wide by Ibrahim Cissoko.

Bradford will be without defender Curtis Tilt through injury, while fellow centre-back Aden Baldwin is in contention for his first start since September after featuring in an in-house friendly on Tuesday.

Key player Antoni Sarcevic is a doubt for the game as Bradford continue to manage his recovery from a minor groin operation earlier this month.

Bolton Wanderers possible starting lineup:

Sharman-Lowe; Dacres-Cogley, Toal, Johnston, Conway; Simons, Sheehan; Cozier-Duberry, Randall, Cissoko; Burstow

Bradford City possible starting lineup:

Walker; Pennington, Baldwin, Wright; Neufville, Power, Metcalfe, Touray; Pointon, Kavanagh; Humphrys