Everton-Bolton Wanderers Preview

Oct 23, 2009 - 4:53 PM GEOFF McALLISTER STATS European Football Writer=

LONDON (SE) - Everton manager David Moyes may be without as many as eleven key players when he takes his squad to Bolton for Sunday's Premier League match.

Moyes was forced to put out a team made up of fringe and youth players in Thursday's Europa League match against Benfica and paid for it with a 5-0 thumping.

Everton fans who had travelled to Portugal for the match were not slow to vent their anger on Moyes for his choice of players, among them debut-making teenager Seamus Coleman.

But Moyes said: "I had no option. We had eleven players out and that might be the case again at Bolton. We even picked up a couple of extra injuries, so it could be even worse."

Everton will definitely be without long term injury victims Victor Anichebe, Mikael Arteta, Phil Jagielka, Phil Neville and Steven Pienaar.

They are expected to be joined on the casualty list by Joseph Yobo, Leon Osman and Leighton Baines while new winger Diniyar Bilyaletdinov has a thigh strain from the Benfica defeat.

Moyes said: "Going to Bolton is hard enough at the best of times but we have a big injury problem and I do not know what my team will be.

"I am sorry for the fans who went to Benfica. We did not want to play a team of their quality with a weakened squad but we had to."

Bolton manager Gary Megson is celebrating two years in charge at the Reebok Stadium and senses this might be a good time to be playing vulnerable Everton.

"They have injury problems but Everton have a superb record against us and are always strong no matter who they put out.

"The last two years have not been easy and without bragging I think that other managers would either have taken this club down or made it bankrupt.

"We have never spent our way out of trouble in the way Harry Redknapp did at Tottenham last season and I don't think anyone has spent less than us on players in the last two transfer windows."

Bolton have won twice in eight matches and are three points and four places adrift of Everton.

But Megson's team are still looking for their first home win of the season and have lost five of their last six matches against Everton.

Megson admitted: "That is not a good record but we need to start making life difficult for opponents on our own ground. So far this has not been the case.

"We are the only club in the Premier League not to have kept a clean sheet and we have looked vulnerable at set pieces in recent matches.

"Even so, we were superb against Manchester United last week and were desperately unlucky not to have come away with a draw at least. We are improving."