RICARDO Gardner faces another stint on the sidelines as Wanderers count the cost of the latest round of World Cup qualifiers.

The jet-setting full-back, who plays his second game in five days for Jamaica on Wednesday night, is only due back in Bolton on Friday, leaving him just 24 hours to prepare for the Reebok clash with Crystal Palace.

But there could be some welcome good news on the fitness front with Kevin Nolan hoping to face Palace just 12 days after an ankle operation.

The midfielder, who has played in varying degrees of pain for eight months, took advantage of the break in the Premiership programme to have a piece of floating bone removed from his right ankle, and reckons he should be fit to retain his place.

The Wanderers' sports science team will need to conduct checks on more than half the senior squad, including their nine-strong international brigade, but Allardyce is not expecting a positive report on Gardner.

"We'll have a look at him, but I don't see him having enough energy to raise a gallop," the manager said.

Gardner, who played 90 minutes in Saturday's 1-1 draw in Panama and faces another tough qualifier at home to El Salvador, has combined club and country commitments since joining Wanderers six years ago and aims to get as much sleep as possible on his transatlantic flights in the hope of returning as fresh as possible.

But Allardyce erred on the side of caution last month when he rested him in similar circumstances for the Manchester United game. It was decision that paid off when Gardner's replacement, Anthony Barness, made a significant contribution in the 2-2 draw and the manager has hinted he may do the same again.

Gary Speed and Henrik Pedersen are also due to play their second internationals in five days respectively for Wales at home to Poland, and for Denmark at home to Turkey -- and Nicky Hunt played a second full 90 minutes for the England U21s, who drew 0-0 in Azerbaijan on Tuesday. But none have had the amount of travelling Gardner had to tackle in the Caribbean and Central America group.

"Apart from Ricardo, the rest should be okay," Allardyce added. "Blessing Kaku, Stelios, Radhi Jaidi and Tal Ben Haim only had the one game."

Jay-Jay Okocha, who missed Nigeria's qualifier in Gabon at the wekeend after limping out of the defeat at West Brom 11 days ago with a recurrence of a groin injury, and Fernando Hierro, who missed out on a place on the subs bench at The Hawthorns after picking up a muscle strain in training, will both need fitness tests before being considered.

Nolan is hoping his ankle repair will not cost him his Premiership place. He was back in training just 48 hours after the operation and said: "It seems to have gone great.

"I went back in to training on Wednesday last week and the physio was really happy with it.

"The scar is healing up very nicely so hopefully I'll be ready for Saturday. But that's up to the medical staff and the gaffer to decide."