Everton v Bolton

By Steve Wilson
BBC Match of the Day reporter





Owen Coyle is fighting hard to arrest bottom-of-the-table Bolton’s slide

TEAM NEWS

United States midfielder Landon Donovan is eligible after re-joining Everton on loan from parent club LA Galaxy.

Marouane Fellaini and Seamus Coleman remain serious doubts with abductor and thigh strains, while Royston Drenthe may not have recovered from illness.

Bolton keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen is a major injury doubt but Darren Pratley is available once again after illness.

Boss Owen Coyle insists Gary Cahill – who may move to Chelsea – is a big part of his plans for the match at Goodison.

MATCH PREVIEW

At last Everton are putting together a bit of a run. Two wins and two draws may not be utterly spectacular, but it is their best sequence of results since April. So they’ll be confident of extending it against a Bolton side with the weight of the world on their shoulders, to say nothing of the 19 other clubs they are propping up in the table.

David Moyes must hate transfer windows though. Everybody knows that if he wants to bring in real experience it can only be on loan, and that Everton are not in a position to keep ignoring really good offers for their best young talent.

The window could be crucial for Bolton. Owen Coyle’s side slipped into the bottom three in mid-September and have not been out of it since. Their limp capitulation at Fulham was probably the worst display I have seen this season and there will have to be some serious changes in January if they are to halt a depressing run of 14 defeats in 19 games.

Coyle himself has not had to deal with that much stick from the fans and, as far as we can tell, retains the support of his chairman. He is an extremely affable and optimistic guy who, in the words of the old Bing Crosby number, never misses a chance to accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative. The danger is that if this continues he will soon be Mr In-Between – jobs that is.

MATCH FACTS

Head-to-head

• Everton are unbeaten in their last five home matches against Bolton, winning four of them.
• The Trotters’ most recent win at Goodison Park came in December 2005, Stelios Giannakopoulos scoring twice in a 4-0 rout.
• The Toffees have won 70 and Bolton 36 of the 137 league matches played between the two clubs.

Everton

• The Toffees have scored 53% of their Premier League goals this season (10 of 19) in the closing 15 minutes of games.
• Everton are unbeaten in their last four games, winning two of them.
• All of Everton’s seven wins this season have come against sides below them in the table.

Bolton

• Wanderers have taken four points from the last nine available; it represents their best return over three games all season.
• Their draw with Wolves ended a run of 28 league games without sharing the points.
• Bolton were bottom on New Year’s Eve. Only West Brom (2004-2005) have avoided relegation from the Premier League despite being bottom going into the second half of the season.