JOHAN Elmander has been urged to follow Roman Pavlyuchenko’s lead as he bids to recapture some goalscoring form.

The Swedish striker has failed to hit the target in his last eight Premier League games — prompting calls from the Wanderers fans for Owen Coyle to drop him from the first team.

But the Whites boss continues to back the £8.2million club record signing — pointing to the example of Spurs’ wantaway Russian Pavlyuchenko, who broke his league duck with a late double against Wigan on Sunday.

“Johan continues to work ever so hard, and having been a striker myself I know all you can do is keep putting yourself in those positions,” he said.

“When one goes in for you, then you’re up and running. Roman Pavlyuchenko is a top player but Johan came to this club with that reputation as well.

“All he can do is keep believing in himself and when he gets the opportunity, show what he can do. Pavlyuchenko came on and made an impact on Sunday, as he can in any other game. And he’s already broke my heart in last season’s Carling Cup semi-final with two minutes left in the game at Turf Moor.”

Pavlyuchenko is reported to be seeking a move away from White Hart Lane after failing to start a Premier League game all season. Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe and Robbie Keane — now on loan at Celtic — have all featured ahead of the 28-year-old hitman but Harry Redknapp still put the brakes on his move to Lokomotiv Moscow last week.

It now looks as if he will get his chance up front tonight and, having returned to form at the weekend, he is out to prove his success at the DW Stadium was not a one-off.

“Many people in England and in Russia have written that I was finished as a footballer, so I wanted to prove them wrong more than ever,” he said.

“All week I had worked hard in training — even Redknapp praised me, which has not happened in quite a while. I perfectly understand that one good match doesn’t solve anything. Redknapp has already said that he’ll play me against Bolton. I’ll try to play at least as well.”