Wanderers will play on a new and improved pitch when they meet Manchester City on Saturday week.

The Whites have taken advantage of a 19-day gap between home games to re-lay the pitch.

The decision was taken to work on the pitch after the UEFA Cup game against Zenit St Petersburg in November and has nothing to do with the postponement of the Premiership game against Middlesbrough after Christmas when the undersoil heating failed to melt the icy surface.

However, while work is taking place to re-lay the pitch, technical specialists will also take appropriate action to help ensure there will not be a repeat of that postponed game.

Concerns were raised about the state of the Reebok pitch when the Zenit game was played in torrential conditions resulting in surface water. The combination of heavy rain and subsequent frost caused a deterioration of the pitch and Wanderers called in an independent consultant to assess it.

The decision was taken to re-lay it as soon as there was a reasonable gap between games.

Work began last week and the floodlights have been on at night while work progresses.