BOLTON Wanderers are facing an intense battle against relegation -- from the popular board game, Monopoly.

The Trotters could be embarrassingly dropped from the board and replaced with First Division rivals Preston and Burnley if they fail to get promoted to the Premier League this season.

Bolton are currently third in the table and lag behind Blackburn Rovers and runaway champions Fulham.

Later today they travel to Barnsley for a vital game.

Only the top two North-west soccer clubs will be guaranteed a place on the Lancashire version of the world's famous game.

And if two clubs from Blackburn, Preston or Burnley make promotion at the expense of Bolton, then Wanderers will be red-carded.

Bolton and Blackburn currently occupy the coveted Monopoly slots.

Manchester City and Manchester United are excluded from the running because they are used on a Manchester version of the game instead.

Tom Liddell, managing director of Winning Moves International, which publishes the Lancashire board, said: "We have a rule that squares are only offered to the top two ranking clubs in any one region. This applies not just in Lancashire but across the whole of Britain."

The second edition of the game will be on shop shelves later this year and sponsors are being sought from today.

Organisations will be able to display their logo and name on the game's multi-coloured squares.

In the Lancashire version, Park Lane and Mayfair are replaced by Blackpool Tower and Circus, and Lancaster Castle.

The Reebok is currently in the pink section and can be bought for the bargain basement price of £140.

It sits alongside Bolton-based soap powder company Acdo and Glowhite in the red section (£220), and the MacDonald Hotel in Bromley Cross in yellow (£260).

The original Monopoly made its debut in 1934 and has since sold more than 160 million copies of the game in 80 countries. It has been published in 23 languages.