It's Tough On Trev

Trevor Brooking admits it will be difficult to be on his best behaviour at the Reebok stadium - and reckons that whatever happens there the immediate focus has to ignore that result and move on to the Middlesbrough game two days later.

"I will be squirming, twisting, and turning; no one can relax and it has been billed the £15m match," he says.

"Everyone is very conscious of the importance of the occasion and the only way to enjoy it is for us to be 4-0 up going into added time....

"I heard someone say after the Arsenal v Manchester United game that this is on a par with that; if we lose there will be a six point gap but Bolton's next two games are possibly slightly more difficult than our next two.

"There are lots of ways of looking at it, but the six point gap is the one you don't want to look at because there is only a day to get ready for Middlesbrough.

"But there is no reason to feel sorry for ourselves if we lose, there is no time to dwell on the implications of a draw, or spend too much time enjoying it if we get a win.

"If we beat Bolton and then lose to Middlesbrough we are back in it, so the dream ticket is two wins.

"The fans were a little bit despondent after drawing to Villa though to be fair there was a torrid spell when we could have gone three goals down but we can not just sit back and make it tight at Bolton.

"Sam, not surprisingly, is trying to compare it with when they beat Ipswich 4-1 last season and saying it would be all over if they won - which I don't think it would be.

"The expectations of the big home support would make their fans a bit edgier if things aren't going right in the first 15-20 minutes and what you mustn't do is give them something to latch on to.

"It could be a little bit feisty but they like to pass it is as we do; the weather is meant to be warm and they have one or two older players so I would have thought the pace of Fredi and Jermain is an area we might get a bit of joy from.

"But players like Djorkaeff are big match players - and the keeper, Jaskelaainen, is another Finn like Enckelman!

"But we have got enough talent in the side to believe we can certainly get something."

As for the Middlesbrough home game, Trevor adds:

"Middlesbrough's shop window activity was good and you have got to give chairman Steve Gibson a lot of credit; they added Malcolm Christie, Riggot, and Ricketts - who has already scored against us this season.

"Just mentioning those players shows why they stopped a bit of a slump - because I think they were a little worried about getting dragged down into it.

"The chances are, with two games in 48 hours, there could be one or two injuries between the two games."

* RealAudio is currently a free service and you can hear the full preview of the weekend action from Trevor on it.