Bradford City vs Bolton Wanderers preview: How to watch, kick-off time, team news, predicted lineups and ones to watch

Bradford City will host Bolton Wanderers this coming Saturday at 15:00 BST, as two of League Two’s most in-form teams lock horns in West Yorkshire.

The home side are in immense form, having lost one of their last 14 and winning 10 of them under the guidance of new joint managers Mark Trueman and Conor Sellars.

City have won their last five outings, including victories over promotion chasing Cheltenham Town and Morecambe.

Ian Evatt’s Bolton are in a similar situation, having crept into the play-off places despite an underwhelming start to the season.

With seven wins in their last eight games, the Trotters are flying and it’ll take a brilliant performance to halt them right now.

Team news

Bradford have confirmed that Harry Pritchard is facing up to 12 weeks out with back surgery this week.

Bryce Hossanah, Lee Novak, Billy Clarke and Zeli Ismail all remain long-term absentees for Trueman and Sellars.

Evatt described his team news as ‘perfect’, with only Dennis Politic and Liam Edwards currently unavailable.

Predicted lineups

Bradford City: Hornby; A O’Connor, P O’Connor, Canavan, Wood, Watt, Sutton, Vernam, Cooke, Crankshaw, Rowe.

Bolton Wanderers: Gilks; Jones, Santos, Baptiste, John, Lee, Williams, Afolayan, Sarcevic, Delfouneso, Doyle.

Ones to watch

Niall Canavan

Former Plymouth Argyle defender Canavan has had an inspired start to life in West Yorkshire.

Canavan has been a defensive rock at the back alongside Paudie O’Connor, and given the midfielders of the club a level of reassurance and trust to get on with their jobs. With him in the backline, the Bantams have kept three clean sheets in their last five and looked comfortable when facing pressure.

Eoin Doyle

Whilst Ricardo Santos is one to watch for how excellent of a season he’s had, all eyes will be on former Bantam Doyle this weekend.

Whilst at Bradford, he had an underwhelming time and became quite the scapegoat before eventually leaving for Swindon Town. Doyle flourished whilst with the Robins before being permanently sold by Bradford, and he’ll be looking to show the club what they’ve been missing this coming Saturday.

Past meeting

These two sides have already faced twice this season, first with Bradford being victorious in the EFL Cup and then Bolton taking the points in the league just one month later. In league action, an early goal from Nathan Delfouneso was the difference in Lancashire.