GARY Megson caused a stir in Bolton this week by suggesting the chairman urged him to lose games when he was in charge at the Reebok.

More than two years after his spell as Wanderers manager ended, Megson claimed Bolton chief Phil Gartside urged him to neglect the Europa League.

"I took Bolton further in Europe than they've ever been, and yet I was told by the chairman to get out of Europe because they don't make any money in it and it was having an impact on the league position," said Megson, who is now manager of Sheffield Wednesday.

Bolton have opted not to comment, perhaps because all energies need to be channelled into this season's attempt to remain in the Premier League.

Wanderers did not look like a team who would be facing a relegation battle this year when they won 4-0 on the opening day at Queens Park Rangers.

But an horrendous sequence of results followed, Owen Coyle's men suffering eight defeats in their next nine league games — including a 3-1 reverse at Swansea — to slump into the bottom three.

A thumping win over Stoke lifted the gloom temporarily, but another five successive league defeats followed before victory in a crunch collision with Blackburn in mid- December inspired something of a turnaround in fortunes.

Bolton have lost only two of their last eight games, taking ten of the last 18 points on offer while scraping past Macclesfield Town after a replay in the previous round of the FA Cup.

Last Saturday came Bolton's best result of the season, a 3-1 home win over Liverpool which lifted them out of the bottom three for the first time since October.

In what has been a pretty miserable campaign to date, Bolton have never had it so good.

There is still much work to do, however, still many more points to be gained if Bolton are to extend their 11-year stay in the top flight.

And there are some who would argue that with so much at the stake in the league this spring, the cup should be forgotten about.

Whatever Megson says, however, it is unlikely that the chairman knocked on the manager's door this week and suggested that he should not spend too much time worrying about how to overcome Swansea City this afternoon.

And it seems that for all the concerns about Bolton's league form so far this season, a cup run is on the agenda for Coyle.

"I think the gaffer will probably make a few changes," says Bolton's former Swansea defender Sam Ricketts.

"But he is taking the competition seriously.

"It's not as if the FA Cup is a distraction when you are in the Premier League, because there are blank weekends for FA Cup games.

"And I know the gaffer wants to keep the momentum going. We have picked up a bit of form recently and we want to carry that on."

Wanderers enjoyed themselves in the cup last season — but only up to a point.

It was just over a year ago that Nat Lofthouse, Bolton's finest footballing son, passed away.

As Coyle's team started putting together a cup run, there was talk of them winning the trophy in tribute to the Lion of Vienna.

They beat York, overcame Wigan in a replay and then won at Fulham.

Next they chalked up another impressive away victory, at Birmingham, to clinch a place in the last four.

The semi-final against Stoke looked too close to call, but Tony Pulis's team surprised everyone by winning 5-0 at Wembley and Bolton were hit for six.

After Stoke they lost five of their six remaining league games last term, and that dreadful from spilled over into this campaign.

Yet Coyle is keen on another a cup adventure, the former Burnley manager stressing that all positive results will be good for the cause right now even if they do not bring in Premier League points.

Ricketts is unlikely to be the only familiar face in the Bolton squad today, although whether Darren Pratley will make it on to the pitch once the warm-up is over is uncertain.

The former Swansea midfielder has started only one of Bolton's last eight matches, and that was the original third-round tie with Macclesfield.

Pratley has not even made it off the bench in the last couple of matches, and it is safe to say that his move to Lancashire has not worked out as he had planned.

Perhaps Pratley ought to have stayed at Swansea, but then game-time might not have been that easy to come by under Brendan Rodgers either.

The Swansea manager's abundance of midfield options means he can shuffle his pack this afternoon and still send out a high-calibre trio.

Rodgers has been irked by a fixture list which sees some top-tier clubs — including his — return to league action on Tuesday night while others do not play until Wednesday.

Swansea face another epic league contest with Chelsea in three days' time, and Rodgers feels changes today are inevitable as a result.

Expect Josh McEachran to make his full Swansea debut, for the on-loan Blues man will be ineligible in midweek.

If Rodgers wants a complete midfield overhaul, he could also select Mark Gower and Kemy Agustien and then have Joe Allen, Leon Britton and Gylfi Sigurdsson fresh for Chelsea.

The options are not so plentiful in other departments, though Alan Tate could make a welcome return in defence nearly five months after his golf buggy collided with a tree.

If Rodgers was forced to choose, he would surely take three points on Tuesday ahead of progress to the fifth round of the cup.

But then Swansea's laudable New Year results against Tottenham and Aston Villa proved they can thrive when changes are made.

Rodgers will maintain that Swansea should be good enough to triumph this afternoon regardless of which team he selects.

Now it is up to his players to prove him right.