GOAL star Alan Thompson is keeping his fingers crossed that Nathan Blake will be back to lead the Reebok hat-trick bid against Arsenal tomorrow night.

The Geordie midfield ace scored both goals as Wanderers produced a second successive survival special on Saturday, beating Leicester 2-0 on the back of their 3-2 victory over Sheffield Wednesday a fortnight earlier.

They will have their work cut out to make it three in a row against the title chasing Gunners but Thompson believes a positive fitness test on 12-goal top scorer Blake could make all the difference.

"They won't have Bergkamp (suspended) or Wright (still not fit) but Overmars is on form so we'll have to be on our toes," he cautioned.

"But, with a little bit of luck, we'll have Blakey back and he can put the frighteners on them."

Blake missed the Leicester game through suspension but is struggling with the groin injury which kept him out of the Wales team for last week's international against Jamaica. Colin Todd will delay a decision as long as possible.

Despite Thompson's double strike, it was goalkeeper Keith Branagan who stole the show with an outstanding performance against Leicester, boosting Wanderers' hopes of winning the fight against relegation.

His breathtaking stop from Matt Elliott's header, denying the Scotland international a 65th minute equaliser, was almost a carbon copy of Gordon Banks' famous save from Pele in the 1970 World Cup Finals

It was a breathtaking piece of goalkeeping, applauded by both sides with Todd going so far as to say it bettered Banks'.

Thompson, who'd given Wanderers a 52nd minute lead and wrapped up the win in injury time with his fourth goal in three games, had no hesitation in handing his keeper the Man of the Match accolade.

"Branny kept us in it at times with some world class saves," he acknowledged.

"He saved what would have been three certain goals on any other day and I'd put that particular one with some of the best I've ever seen."

Branagan has been the Bolton No 1 since sigining on a free transfer from Millwall in June 1992 - the first recruit to the Rioch revolution that transformed the club's fortunes.

He won the Nationwide Save of the Season award for a spectacular save from Sheffield United's Petr Katchouro at Bramall Lane in November 1996 - an honour Thompson recalled when he joked: "Let's not have him getting too cocky! We need him to keep another clean sheet against Arsenal."

Thompson's return to scoring form - he is now on seven for the season - has followed a gentle reminder from his manager.

Todd revealed: "Before the Sheffield Wednesday game I asked Alan how many he'd scored last season. He said 10 or 11.

"I told him he could beat that and he's shown in the last two games that he can. I've said the same to Per Frandsen.

"Last season we got goals from all areas and that's something we've been missing. This is the ideal time for that to change."

Despite a second successive win, Wanderers remain second bottom of the Premiership but they are now just three points adrift of the safety zone with a game in hand on Everton and with Todd confident they can bridge the gap.

"We haven't moved up the table but we've come a lot closer to our target, which is fourth bottom - or even above." he said.

"The players showed tremendous character on Saturday and they still have the belief that they can get out of it."

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