After a break in League One action for Bolton Wanderers Football League Trophy semi-finals battle with Accrington Stanley, the club are back in third tier action as they welcome Port Vale to the Toughsheet Community Stadium.
This game also marks the first for Bolton at their newly-named stadium. It has brought a lot of negative attention towards the club, but given their finances over the past few years, there's no surprise from any Bolton fan regarding the name change.
Back on the pitch, however, the club are flying high and currently sit fourth in the table and now head into this game with great hope at making it into the League One playoffs and finally getting back into the Championship.
Bolton have played more games than everyone in the top half of the table, beside Port Vale down in 12th. It doesn't bode well for them in the long run, especially as Barnsley are behind them by only three points with three games in hand to play. Worse yet, despite sitting only one adrift of Ipswich Town in the race for the Championship, Bolton have played a game more than the third-placed side.
Nevertheless, for the time being, at least, the Greater Manchester side sit in fourth with 17 games won and only eight losses. At the same time, Ian Evatt's men have the best defensive record in League One so far, having let in just 24 goals all campaign long.
As for Vale, they have also played out 33 games in the league but come into this one after a midweek loss to 20th-placed Morecambe. Vale lost 1-0 on Tuesday evening and it keeps them only narrowly in the top half of the table. In fact, the club could sink to as low as 16th in the table if they lose here and others around them win. Worse yet, they are the lowest scorers in the top half of the table with just 33 goals scored.
The midweek game for Bolton brought a few changes to their side and it could now affect them here. Nevertheless, based on paper and recent form, there is no recent why Bolton does not stroll to another routine win. The atmosphere at the ground will be interesting, however, given the change to the stadium's name this past week.