Bolton Wanderers' predicted line-up for Shrewsbury Town trip

The Whites drew 1-1 against Bristol Rovers in their last outing, with Dion Charles coming off the bench to score a dramatic late equaliser.

Ian Evatt’s men are currently fifth in the League One table – just a point behind fourth-place Barnsley heading into the busy Christmas period.

Team news

Ricardo Santos is back home after a spell in hospital and will now see a private specialist about his lungs.

George Thomason is facing a “significant” spell on the sidelines after dislocating his knee and tearing a ligament.

Meanwhile, Jon Dadi Bodvarsson needs an operation on a broken nose and is also likely to be missing for the rest of December.

Kyle Dempsey is making good progress and should be back in training next week, but the Papa Johns Trophy game against Manchester United Under-21s will likely come too soon for the midfielder.

Opposition lowdown

Former Burnley and Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cotterill took charge at Shrewsbury back in November 2020.

The Shrews are currently 13th in the table and enter the game on the back of a 2-0 win against Lincoln thanks to goals from Luke Leahy and Tom Bayliss either side of half time.

Cotterill’s men had gone six league matches without a win prior to that, although that run included fixtures against Sheffield Wednesday, Plymouth, Portsmouth and Barnsley.

Head-to-head

Wanderers have faced Shrewsbury 26 times in their history, with a record of 15 wins, four draws and seven defeats.

Evatt’s men recorded a late 1-0 win at New Meadow last season, with Charles scoring his first goal for the club.

The Whites also came out on top when the sides last met at the UniBol back in October 2021, with Antoni Sarcevic and Dapo Afolayan both getting on the scoresheet.

Their last defeat in the fixture came in October 2020 when Adam Senior was on target in a 2-1 loss in the Papa Johns Trophy.

Predicted line-up

Gain unlimited access to the Bolton News website with a premium digital subscription