Bolton here for first home game

Bolton are under the management of Sam Allardyce. Perhaps I shouldn't have to tell you that, he's been there since late 1999 but the speculation recently would have you think he was no longer at the Reebok.

Firstly there was England, and there are plenty who would definitely have preferred him to Steve McClaren, but more recently he's incredibly been linked with the Sunderland job. That takes some believing, and so does the news over the last couple of days making him favourite for Villa. Would he really want to work with Deadly Doug?

Sam's had something of a frustrating summer so far with just a couple of signings, well that's not exactly true because there was a third when he signed Liverpool's German midfielder Dietmar Hamann a couple of weeks ago on a Bosman free. But almost immediately the player said he wanted to go to Manchester City and he moved there the day after for £400,000.

He's looking for a top quality striker but with a month to go to the new season he's still no nearer and admitted this week that he is still some way off getting anyone in.

The two players he has signed are Israeli international and former Everton midfielder Idan Tal and Ivory Coast defender Abdoulaye Meite. Tal will feature in tomorrow's game but Meite will sit it out alongside Bolton's other World Cup players Jared Borgetti and Radhi Jaidi.

The only other player ruled out is Ricardo Gardner who is struggling with a knee injury but they will include Manchester United's Quinton Fortune who is on trial with Bolton and will sign for them next week.

Bolton will select from: Ali Al Habsi, Nicky Hunt, Kevin Nolan, Gary Speed, Stelios Giannakopoulos, Ivan Campo, Henrik Pedersen, Ian Walker, Kevin Davies, Ricardo Vaz Te, El-Hadji Diouf, Jussi Jaaskelainen, Idan Tal, Joey O'Brien, Abdoulaye Faye, Tal Ben Haim, Sam Ashton, Jaroslaw Fojut, Quinton Fortune and Chris Howarth.

For Burnley, Michael Duff is nearing fitness but Steve Cotterill has decided not to risk him in this particular game. Goalkeeper Danny Coyne will again be on the sidelines and the two of them will this time be joined by Chris McCann who picked up an injury at Bury.

That will mean we will select from: Brian Jensen, Frank Sinclair, Stephen Foster, Wayne Thomas, Jon Harley, John Spicer, Micah Hyde, James O'Connor, Alan Mahon, Andy Gray, Steve Jones, John McGreal, Graham Branch, Wade Elliott, Garreth O'Connor, Gifton Noel-Williams and Kyle Lafferty.

Bolton's last visit for a friendly at Turf Moor came four years ago and as is the case this year it was the only home friendly, played in front of just 4,561 spectators. They saw Gareth Taylor give the Clarets the lead just before half time and Henrik Pedersen equalise shortly after the break.

A total of 41 players were used, with Sam Allardyce changing his entire side at half time whilst Stan Ternent made substitutions throughout the second half with both Lee Briscoe and Alan Moore going off and coming back on again.

Three of the players who featured for the visitors went on to play for Burnley, they were midfielder Gareth Farrelly and strikers Delroy Facey and Michael Ricketts, whilst Glen Little made a couple of substitute appearances for Bolton.

Those who featured were;

Burnley: Nik Michopoulos, Dean West (Marlon Broomes 45), Steve Davis (Mark McGregor 60), Arthur Gnohere (Ian Cox 52), Graham Branch (Gordon Armstrong 60), Glen Little (Andy Payton 72), Tony Grant (Lee Briscoe 69), Lee Briscoe (Paul Cook 45), Alan Moore (Robbie Blake 45), Ian Moore (Dimitri Papadopoulos 45), Gareth Taylor (Alan Moore 65).

Bolton Wanderers (first half): Jussi Jaaskelainen, Bernard Mendy, Simon Charlton, Bruno N'Gotty, Mike Whitlow, Per Frandsen, Kevin Nolan, Jay-Jay Okacha, Michael Ricketts, Bo Hansen, Ricardo Gardner.

(Second half): Kevin Poole, Nicky Southall, Anthony Barness, Paul Warhurst, Gudni Bergsson, Danny Livesey, Gareth Farrelly, Henrik Pedersen, Delroy Facey, Youri Djorkaef, Jermaine Johnson.