Bolton Wanderers urged to axe £750k star for Dion Charles v Shrewsbury | OneFootball

The Trotters have won their last three games, pushing them into the top half of the table.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Bolton Wanderers have slowly started to find some form in League One following an incredibly difficult start to the season.

Ian Evatt's side won just one of their opening five matches, but a run of three wins in three has seen the team rise up the table into the top half as they await the visit of Shrewsbury Town on Saturday.

The Trotters have beaten Northampton Town, Crawley Town and Reading over the last two weeks, scoring 11 goals, and conceding just four, just as pressure started to mount on Evatt and the rest of his coaching staff.

Bolton have struggled to get back into the same form that saw them challenge Derby County for the final automatic promotion spot in the third tier in 2023/24. The hangover of losing the play-off final to Oxford United lasted longer than fans would have hoped for, but they now look to have turned a corner.

A result against Salop at the weekend will go a long way towards Wanderers' promotion hopes, and Evatt has huge decisions to make for his starting XI.

Evatt should make minimal changes to the team

Eight games into the season, the league table is starting to take shape, and it is a table that is showing Shrewsbury as a potential candidate for relegation, following on from their survival battle last season.

Bolton's supporters will be seeing the clash as a good opportunity to take another three points and keep this momentum going, but with this being their fifth match in 14 days, rotation could potentially be in order.

Nevertheless, Football League World's Bolton Fan Pundit, Oliver Jaques, would make just one change to the team that beat Northampton 4-2 in the week.

He told FLW: "I would only make one change from Tuesday’s game and that would be Aaron Collins. I'd replace him with Dion Charles just to see how Charles and John McAtee work together.

"Between them, they seem to be getting the goals and look to be slightly better players, putting in better performances at this moment in time. Then, with Victor Adeboyejo and Collins, there's not much in it, so I’d be interested to see what those two are like alongside each other."

Oliver continued: "I wouldn't change any of the defence or midfield just because we've got three league wins in a row now, and I wouldn't want to disrupt that.

"Having said that, we have played Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday, the last couple of weeks, so Evatt may want to rotate one of the midfielders potentially, but we are quite short at the back, so I can't see that changing, and I wouldn't change anything there anyway."

Charles will be hoping to carry on his goal-scoring form

In a move that looked to be one of rotation, Charles was dropped for Collins on Tuesday evening, but came on as a substitute with 20 minutes to go, finding the back of the net a little over 10 minutes later.

The 28-year-old scored a sublime hat-trick against Reading in a 5-2 win two weeks ago, and has outshone Collins so far this season, who has failed to find the back of the net in the league.

It's a run of form that will feel all too familiar to Bolton's number 19, who struggled to score when he first joined the club in January.

Evatt should bring Charles back into the starting XI against Shrewsbury, but giving Collins, who cost Wanderers £750k to buy, the opportunity to come on towards the end should be done, and if he can grab a goal, then it may give him a new-found confidence to go on and play a vital role.