Question marks over whether Declan John will be able to start for Bolton Wanderers tomorrow in their clash against Lincoln City.
The left-back was taken off during Saturday's 3-3 draw against AFC Wimbledon.
He picked up a hip problem following a collision on the pitch and Wanderers believe it is more bruising rather than a muscle injury or tweak.
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Speaking ahead of the clash against the Imps, Ian Evatt said that Wanderers are not yet sure whether the former Swansea defender will be fit to start tomorrow's night's encounter at Sincil Bank.
Should John not be deemed fit to play, then Liam Gordon would be an obviously candidate to replace him, as would Harry Brockbank.
Evatt said: “We’ve seen the incident back now of when Dec got injured and it is just a hip on hip injury, a clash, so it’s more bruised than a muscle pull or a tweak or anything, so it’ll settle down really quickly.
"Whether he’s okay for tomorrow night, we don’t know yet. We’ll have a look at him today and see. Obviously we had a bit of fatigue on Saturday, one or two carrying a little bit but nothing major. We should be okay.”
In terms of team selection tomorrow, Evatt will pick the team that is deemed to be most physically able to do the job after, highlighting fatigue issues in his squad.
The examples of Ricardo Almeida Santos and George Johnston and the diruptive pre-season they have had due to coronavirus were cited by the Wanderers boss as he outlined the difficulties he faces in naming teams at this point.
He said: “When I pick teams, it’s so difficult right here, right now, because of what we’ve been through in pre-season and it’s only really me, the players and the medical staff that know the current situation, so when fans see for instance, George Johnston, not in the team on Saturday, there’s a reason behind that.
"George had one day’s training from return of Covid and has had to play 90 minutes, 90 minutes, 90 minutes and he was out on his feet and you saw with the last 20 minutes on Saturday with Rico.
"Rico was out on his feet on Saturday, completely fatigued, and that’s all down to what they’ve been through in pre-season.
“We’re analysing heavily the data, obviously speaking to the players themselves, because they know their bodies better than anybody, and we’ll pick a team that we think is physically able to do the job for that specific game.”
