THE lure of London plus the chance to be reunited with his former coach could stand in the way of Wanderers tempting Anders Limpar to Burnden.

Everton's Swedish international winger is understood to have been earmarked as the first major signing Stuart Houston will make if, as expected, he gets the manager's job at Queens Park Rangers.

The Rangers board are understood to be ready to sanction a permanent deal, priced at around £750,000, that could scupper any chance of Wanderers taking Limpar on loan.

Colin Todd has confirmed an interest in the Everton man, who worked with Houston during his four years at Arsenal before moving to Merseyside in a £1.6 million deal in March 1994. Meanwhile, Todd is urging his table-topping Wanderers to build on their flying start to the season.

The Burnden boss has seen his team surge to the top of the table on the back of five wins in seven games - the club's best start for 19 years.

Now, he says, is the time to press home their advantage.

"It is still early days," he stressed, "but we have made a very promising start.

"Now we've got to turn the screw and keep it going."

Two home wins in the space of five days have seen Wanderers bounce back from the shock defeat at Southend and regain their place at the top of the table.

Terry Fenwick, who saw his Portsmouth side beaten 2-0 at Burnden on Saturday, tipped Wanderers to claim one of the two automatic promotion places. But Todd was dismissive of long-range predictions. "I'm not interested," he responded. "I don't even know how many games we've played. It is six or seven?

"What I do know is that we have a good balance, we're playing well and we have strength in depth when you consider players such as Simon Coleman, Mixu Paatelainen, Scott Sellars and Scott Green, who have been injured.

"Last season was good experience for a lot of the players. They were very disappointed to be relegated but they have learned a lot from it." Those long-term injuries apart, Todd is likely to have a full squad to select from when Wanderers kick off their Coca-Cola Cup campaign at Bristol City on Wednesday.

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