Kevin Davies is expected to be fit to lead the line in next Saturday's Premiership opener at home to Charlton.

The striker missed Saturday's 1-1 friendly draw with Real Zaragoza after having an operation on a mouth abscess.

His recovery is expected to enable him to play a part in Wanderers' final warm-up match behind closed doors in midweek, and then be ready to carry on where he left off last season. Assistant manager Phil Brown confirmed: "Kevin Davies will be pushing for his place on Saturday."

A fit Davies will almost certainly fill one of the two striker places Wanderers appear ready to field in a tactical switch from last season's 4-3-3 to 4-4-2.

That was the formation Sam Allardyce played in the first half against the La Liga side, with Les Ferdinand and Henrik Pedersen both staking their claims with impressive contributions in the first half, and Michael Bridges playing the second.

Radhi Jaidi linked up solidly with Bruno N'Gotty at centre back with Julio Cesar at left back, and Ricardo Gardner given a more forward brief in front of him.

Ivan Campo looks a certain starter in the defensive midfield berth with Gary Speed, Jay-Jay Okocha, Gardner, Kevin Nolan and possibly Stelios vying for the other three midfield places.

Allardyce will have few doubts now about his starting 11 for Charlton, and any that linger will be cast aside after the midweek friendly behind closed doors.

His attention will also be focused on activities off the field, as he seeks to bring in three, maybe four, new players before the transfer window closes in three weeks.

One of the those could be Nigerian midfielder Kaku who played the last 20 minutes on Saturday.

The trialist, who is on contract to Tel Aviv Maccabi, showed enough appetite and good touches to persuade Wanderers to give him another chance.

Brown said: "He looked like he had the right attitude to come here.

"We want to have a look at him again, if the president of his team in Israel allows us to."