Stelios, Okocha missing for Bolton

Bolton manager Sam Allardyce left Stelios Giannakopoulus and Jay-Jay Okocha out of his starting line-up for the Barclays Premiership opener at Aston Villa.

Stelios was today the subject of a £1m (€1.4m) bid from Manchester City having previously been linked with a move to Liverpool.

But skipper Okocha’s exclusion from the starting line-up was a major surprise and an unwelcome early birthday present with him being 32 on Sunday.

Defender Bruno N’Gotty was suspended with Radhi Jaidi replacing him at the heart of the back four.

Villa included summer signings Kevin Phillips and Aaron Hughes in their line-up but another of them in Patrik Berger was ruled out with a thigh injury.

Villa chairman Doug Ellis was among those watching the game after recovering from triple heart by-pass surgery.

Aston Villa: Sorensen, Hughes, Mellberg, Laursen, Samuel, Solano, Davis, McCann, Barry, Angel, Phillips. Subs: Taylor, Hendrie, Djemba-Djemba, Ridgewell, Moore.

Bolton: Jaaskelainen, Hunt, Ben Haim, Jaidi, Gardner, Nolan, Campo, Speed, Diouf, Davies, Pedersen. Subs: Okocha, Walker, Giannakopoulos, Vaz Te, Diagne-Faye.

Referee: M Riley (W Yorkshire)