Bolton Wanderers' Ricardo Santos set to return against Bristol Rovers

The towering centre-back has been out of action since the 4-0 win against Plymouth at Wembley after picking up a thigh injury.

George Johnston, MJ Williams and Eoin Toal have all played in the middle of the back three in Santos’ absence.

“He has trained, he is fine. He will be available and he will play,” said Ian Evatt. “We will manage his minutes accordingly.”

Evatt also revealed that a couple of unnamed players are carrying knocks and will be rested with the play-offs in mind.

“There are no worries long term but there are knocks with one or two to probably keep them out of Sunday - just to get them to 100 per cent for the play-offs, which is the most important thing,” he added.

Meanwhile, long-term absentees Jack Iredale and Jon Dadi Bodvarsson are “edging closer” to a return to full training.

The pair have been back training on the grass after stepping up their recoveries from knee and ankle injuries respectively.

The Bolton boss could roll the dice on them at some stage in the play-offs but admits it would be “a big ask”.

Wanderers will be hoping to finish the league campaign on a high at the Memorial Stadium this weekend.

Joey Barton's side are set for a respectable mid-table finish following their promotion from League Two last summer.

Evatt is pleased to have more bodies back available but praised the players who have stood up over the past few weeks.

“It’s a huge boost,” he said. “Everybody has done a fantastic job this season but we know it is a team effort and a squad effort, we need everybody available if we can.

“It doesn’t necessarily matter what team I select, I believe every team that I can select out of the squad will be competitive and good enough to win football matches. We have seen that in the Papa Johns Trophy and in the league when we have made changes.

“I have a massive amount of faith in them all. Hopefully, we can get a good result on Sunday and then take that form into the play-offs.”