First place is within reach for Bolton Wanderers, who host Exeter City in League One action on Saturday at Toughsheet Community Stadium.

The Whites have reeled off five successive victories domestically and are third in the table following a 1-0 win over Blackpool two weeks ago, while Exeter are just a point above the relegation zone, losing their previous encounter, 3-0 at Fleetwood Town.

Match preview

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Bolton are inching closer and closer towards automatic promotion, currently even with Oxford United on 35 points and just one behind Portsmouth for first.

Winners of seven successive matches in all competitions, Ivan Evatt's men are brimming with confidence, posting five consecutive clean sheets.

After 16 domestic fixtures in 2023-24, the Trotters are eight points ahead of where they were at this same stage in the previous League One campaign, with three more victories so far than they had at the 16-game mark a season ago.

Two of their three domestic defeats this season took place at home, where Bolton have conceded 13 of their 18 goals thus far.

They have a 100% record all-time against Exeter in League One, and they did not concede a goal to them in both encounters played last season.

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After a decent first season in League One for the Grecians in 2022-23, it has been a tough opening to the new campaign for the side from South West England.

Gary Caldwell's men have picked up just one point in their previous eight encounters in this competition, failing to find the back of the net in six of those matches.

This team began the 2023-24 League One campaign by winning three of their opening four away matches, conceding just once over that stretch, but have since suffered four successive defeats as the visiting team in this competition, with 13 goals conceded.

Earlier this week, though, they earned a positive result in the Football League Trophy group stage by defeating Swindon Town 1-0 away from home after losing their first two encounters at that tournament by a combined score of 14-0.

While Exeter have never beaten Bolton in this competition, they did not lose to them when both sides were in League Two during the 2020-21 campaign, coming from behind to claim a 2-1 victory in Bolton in May of that season.

Team News

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Kyle Dempsey and Will Forrester are back training with Bolton, with the former recovering from a minor knee problem and the latter back from a stress fracture, while George Johnston is out because of a knee injury.

George Thomason netted his second of the season, enabling them to defeat Blackpool in their previous domestic affair, as Nathan Baxter picked up his third successive domestic clean sheet.

Caldwell made one change to his starting 11 from matchday 16 to 17 in League One, bringing Zak Jules into the lineup instead of Demetri Mitchell.

Yanic Wildschut had the only strike in their victory over Swindon in the Football League Trophy group stage this week, while Shaun MacDonald did not have to make a single stop to collect a clean sheet on that occasion.

Bolton Wanderers possible starting lineup:
Baxter; Jones, Santos, Toal; Sheehan; Dacres-Cogley, Williams, Thomason, Dempsey; Nlundulu, Charles

Exeter City possible starting lineup:
Sinisalo; Sweeney, Aimson, Diabate; Taylor, Kite, Trevitt, Niskanen; Aitchison; Wilschut, Muskwe

We say: Bolton Wanderers 2-0 Exeter City

The Wanderers have won matches in various ways throughout the domestic campaign, while Exeter often look unstable and inconsistent at the back, which is why we believe Bolton will continue their winning ways and push towards the top spot in the league.

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