Having climbed to the top half of the table with an away win over West Brom, Everton have a great chance to revive their European hopes by beating struggling Bolton.

The Trotters slipped to the bottom of the standings as they failed to beat relegation rivals Wolverhampton at their Reebok, and are now in for a difficult task at Goodison Park.

Everton traditionally struggle in the first part of the season, which usually end up costing them a chance to fight for European places, and this term it’s no different.

The Toffees needed quite a while to hit the ground running, but just as everyone expected, they have now raised their game and are finally starting to play to their potential.

Following the unlucky defeat at the Emirates, David Moyes’ side picked up no less than 8 points from next 4 games, with a win over West Brom seeing them climb to the top part of the standings.

The Toffees are now six points behind seventh-placed Newcastle, but with a game in hand, so this looks like the right time to back Everton to finish just behind the top 6, at odds of 4.50 (7/2) offered by Paddy Power.

Loan signing from LA Galaxy Landon Donovan is finally in contention, but Royston Drenthe is sideliened and Marouane Fellaini and Seamus Coleman are doubtful.

Probable starting line-up (4-4-1-1): Howard – Hibbert, Jagielka, Distin, Baines – Donovan, Rodwell, Heitinga, Osman – Cahill – Saha.

Halfway into the Premiership campaign, Bolton sit at the bottom of the Premiership standings, which is a huge surprise in my book.

The Trotters played really well last term and were recording very good results, but it looks as though injuries to key players Lee and Holden have destabilized the team before the start to the new league campaign.

Playing without confidence, Owen Coyle’s side cannot seem to escape the bottom three and they now look like genuine relegation candidates.

The Trotters had a good chance to finally record a home win and restore some of the lost confidence as they took the lead against Wolves, but ended up taking just one point from that game, which saw them finish 2011 at rock bottom.

After failing to score in 4 of last 7 Premier League games, backing Bolton not to score at odds of 2.10 (11/10) offered by Sportingbet looks like the right thing to do, especially as Everton conceded just four goals in last seven games.

Darren Pratley could return after recovering from illness, but Stuart Holden, Lee Chung-Yong, Ricardo Gardner, Sean Davis, Tyrone Mears and Marcos Alonso remain long-term casualties.

Probable starting line-up (4-4-2): Jaaskelainen – Steinsson, Knight, Cahill, Ricketts – Davies, Muamba, Reo-Coker, Petrov – Klasnic, N’Gog.