Bolton are currently in the midst of a small revolution. They'll go into the weekend's clash with Arsenal buoyed from their Carling Cup quarter-final victory and last weekend's triumph over former table-toppers Chelsea.
Both Arsenal and Bolton secured their places in the semi-finals of the League Cup with wins on Tuesday night, though it's doubtful that any of Arsenal's second-string that killed off West Brom will feature again on Saturday.
Bolton are likely to go with many of the players who earned them a 1-0 extra-time victory over Southampton and they are on high at the moment, having previously knocked holders Liverpool out of the cup competition and also beaten Ranieri's stars on their own patch.
The Trotters have won four of their last six Barclaycard Premiership games, culminating with a win over Chelsea. Will they be able to follow in the footsteps of Portsmouth, Fulham, Manchester United, Charlton and Leicester and get something from a game with Arsenal? Or maybe even send the Gunners crashing to their first defeat of the season? Sitting in tenth, Wanderers have taken ten points from their seven home games and would love to make it a lucky 13 when they entertain Arsene Wenger's men at the Reebok.
Arsène Wenger in training.
Manchester United - no good?
Manchester UnitedSam Allardyce has certainly been boosted by the fact that he can keep hold of influential skipper Jay Jay Okocha until early January, although he is dismayed that he will not be able to feature in the two-legged Carling Cup semi-final and has urged his captain to consider his international future.
The Nigerian international has been called on by his country to play in the African Nations Cup competition in January and it had been feared he would have to leave Lancashire as early as last week. But the Nigerian FA have since agreed he can play on until after the Trotters' clash with Manchester United in the New Year.
At Stamford Bridge last week, Chelsea had dominated for the first half hour, and had Hernan Crespo's goal to show for it. But Bruno N'Gotty headed an equaliser from a 39th-minute free-kick and then the Blues crashed to their first Premiership defeat at home this season when John Terry scored an own goal two minutes from time.
Allardyce was pleased with his side's "huge, huge result". He enthused: "We've got a lot of confidence in ourselves. We were disappointed at Fulham (to lose 2-1) but this makes up for all that frustration. To do it at a place like Chelsea, with the quality of players they've got makes it a delight.
"Chelsea are a very good team, but we are as good as most of the other teams and we deserve credit for winning and for the performance." Arsenal meanwhile, are still unbeaten in the league so far this season. In 16 games they've drawn just five, and clawed their way back to the top of the Premiership table after Chelsea's defeat last weekend with their hard-earned victory over Blackburn Rovers.
They are mounting their challenge for the title this season with great seriousness as they find themselves involved in a closely-contested three-horse race. They are currently one point ahead of perennial rivals Manchester United and two points above Chelsea, and have notched an incredible 30 goals in 16 games.
They have also been going well in the Champions League, at least in their last three games, progressing to the last 16 with three straight victories.
Wenger's youth team blended with experienced heads like Kanu, Martin Keown and Lauren that took The Gunners into the Carling Cup semi-finals was a completely different line-up to the one that beat Blackburn 1-0 last weekend, and the Frenchman is likely to change it again for this weekend's tie.
Wenger praised his rearguard for a "tremendous" performance against Rovers while goalkeeper Jens Lehman pulled off a string of fine saves to keep the goal margin low, and in the end only Denis Bergkamp's 11th minute goal settled the match. Wenger was clearly pleased: "We gave an outstanding defensive performance and after dropping two points against both Fulham and Leicester, it was important not to have a third dip." They'll be looking to avoid dropping points against an on-the-up Bolton side, to ensure they stay top of the league and they will be keen to banish the memories of their 2-2 draw at The Reebok last season - a result that many feel cost them the title - as they threw away a two-goal lead to allow Manchester United to take control of the Championship race.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger and in the backgroun...
English: Arsene Wenger. Original photograph by Ola...