Mansfield Town vs Bolton Prediction

Right then, let's have a proper look at this Tuesday night tussle between Mansfield Town and Bolton Wanderers. The Stags are sitting in 16th spot with 22 points, while Bolton are knocking on the playoff door in 6th with 28 points - there's a clear quality gap on paper, but football's not played on spreadsheets, is it?

Bolton have been the business lately, mind you. Six wins from their last 10 games, averaging nearly two goals per outing. They're scoring for fun at the moment. Mansfield, on the other hand, have been a bit up and down - only three wins in their last 10, and they've lost four of their last five across all competitions. That 3-0 hammering by Cardiff and that 1-3 home defeat to Huddersfield won't have done the confidence any good.

But here's where it gets proper interesting. When these two have met before, it's been end-to-end stuff. Both teams have scored in EVERY single one of their last five meetings. Five out of five! That's some pattern, that is. Three of those five have gone over 2.5 goals too, so we're usually in for a bit of excitement.

Bolton's away form is a bit weird, mind. They're solid as a rock at home (conceding just 0.20 per game), but on their travels they leak a few more - 2.20 per game. Mansfield at home are decent going forward (1.80 per game) but aren't exactly watertight at the back (1.60 conceded).

The bookies have Bolton as clear favorites at 1.91, which makes sense given their league position and recent form. But I'm looking at that Both Teams To Score market at 1.62 - that looks tasty given what happens when these two meet up.

Goal expectancies are suggesting around 3.7 goals in this one, which points towards a proper open game. Mansfield have seen both teams score in 70% of their recent games, and while Bolton are lower at 40%, that head-to-head record of 100% BTTS is screaming at me.

Both teams have had similar rest too - three days since their last games - so no excuses there. Bolton got hammered 4-0 by Swindon in the FA Cup, while Mansfield drew 1-1 with Accrington. Sometimes a good hiding can wake a team up, sometimes it can knock the stuffing out of them. We'll see which Bolton turns up.