Coyle optimistic of survival

Bolton boss Owen Coyle believes his team can avoid relegation from the English Premier League despite their mounting injury toll.

Coyle’s side have suffered from a lengthy injury list since the start of the season, with midfield the biggest worry ahead of their crucial clash against Aston Villa on Tuesday.

Teenager Josh Vela could be handed his debut with Darren Pratley and Mark Davies joining Stuart Holden, Lee Chung-Yong and Fabrice Muamba on the sidelines.

Coyle, whose team are four points from safety but have two games in hand on most of the teams above them, said his injury-hit squad were capable of avoiding the drop.

“In a football context, we are all here because everybody wants to be in the best league in the world,” he said on Monday.

“We understand that there are reasons sometimes you find yourselves in a difficult situation – some uncontrollables (sic) go against you in different things – but the bottom line is that it is what it is.

“We have got five games to address that. We are the masters of our own destiny. We’ve got five games to win enough points and if we do that we stay in the Premier League. It’s as simple as that.

“We’re capable of doing that, regardless of the amount of players we have missing. We have enough quality in the squad and players hungry to go and win those points to keep this football club in the Premier League.”

Coyle urged his men to focus on Tuesday’s trip to Villa Park and try and ignore the growing injury problems.

“We have young Josh Vela who is improving no end and will come into thoughts,” Coyle said.

“We haven’t been blessed with the injury situation but we just have to get on with it.”

A win for Bolton would see Villa dragged into the relegation fight, with Alex McLeish’s men just five points clear of the bottom three.