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Quartet set to start for Black Cats Bolton manager Gary Megson could hand debuts to four summer signings when Sunderland visit the Reebok Stadium on the opening day of the Barclays Premier League season.

Megson recruited Sean Davis from Portsmouth on a free transfer and strengthened his defence by bringing in West Brom's Paul Robinson on a season-long loan.

Full-back Sam Ricketts and centre-half Zat Knight arrived from Hull and Aston Villa respectively for undisclosed fees but South Korea midfielder Lee Chong-Young is unlikely to feature following his #2.2million move from FC Seoul.

Megson believes his new-boys will ensure Bolton become the most honest side in the league.

The signings are not likely to have got Wanderers fans too excited ahead of the new season but Megson could hardly be happier.

The Trotters boss said: "I can honestly say, hand on heart, that nobody will be as good as my players this season in terms of effort and honesty.

"That's the kind of players they are and we're determined to keep on making progress.

"There is real competition for places now with the players we've been brought in.

"I've been delighted with all of them. They're all really good lads and have fitted in exceptionally well.

"There is extra quality as well as extra competition." Steve Bruce could include four of his summer buys in his squad when he goes into his first Premier League game as Sunderland boss.

Lee Cattermole, the most recent recruit, will be joined by fellow midfielder Lorik Cana and strikers Darren Bent and Fraizer Campbell.

Paraguay defender Paulo Da Silva will finally link up with his new team-mates after having his visa application granted, but is unlikely to play due to a lack of match fitness.

Goalkeeper Craig Gordon is still recovering from knee surgery, so Marton Fulop starts the season with Northern Ireland Under-21 international Trevor Carson on the bench.

Defender Nyron Nosworthy is expected to be involved despite dislocating a finger in last Saturday's 1-1 friendly draw at Hearts. But Bruce will check on midfielder Andy Reid (thigh) and right-back Phil Bardsley (ankle), who are slight doubts.

Bruce believes Sunderland must learn a lesson in Premier League survival from the Trotters.

Bruce launches his reign as Black Cats manager in earnest with a visit to the Reebok Stadium, where Megson has taken on the mantle of former Bolton boss Sam Allardyce.

Megson was a surprise choice for the job in October 2007 after Allardyce's right-hand man, Sammy Lee, had a brief, unhappy stint in charge.

But the former West Brom and Leicester boss has defied the sceptics by escaping relegation in his first season, then leading Wanderers to a comfortable 13th-place finish last term.

Sunderland, who have earned a reputation as a yo-yo club after being relegated three times from the Premier League in nine years, have come perilously close to going down again in both seasons since Roy Keane returned them to the top flight.

Now Bruce, appointed in June after quitting Wigan, is urging his reshaped squad to follow Bolton's example.

He said: "For what they have done as a club, I have the hugest respect. For a team like Bolton to be in the Premier League for the past eight years is a quite remarkable achievement, fantastic.

"They've added three or four to their squad which will make them bigger, better and stronger, and it will be a tough test. Anyone who goes to Bolton knows what to expect.

"That's the way we have to go to establish ourselves. We have to go nine or 10 years in the Premier League.

"Then you don't have to make six, seven signings at a time and keep changing manager. You just have that consistency and continuity. That's what we need here and that's the aim." Bruce was quick to salute Megson, saying: "I have a lot of respect for Gary. I don't think he has been given the credit he deserves.

"He's obviously left in place what Big Sam had achieved. They played a certain way and Sammy came in - and I'm looking from the outside - and wanted to change things quickly and they weren't used to that.

"To be fair to Gary, he's gone there and reverted to the way they played under Sam. I don't think Gary has ever had to prove anybody wrong. If you look at everywhere he goes, he does okay.

Bolton 0-1 Sunderland

Last modified 11:24 30/12/09

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Harry Redknapp might just have felt a twinge of embarrassment watching Match of the Day last night.

But wife Sandra will, no doubt, have been feeling as proud as punch.

Tottenham boss Harry humiliated and almost certainly signalled the end of Darren Bent’s White Hart Lane career by delivering a withering broadside at the striker last season.

After Bent, 25, had missed a sitter in a crucial game, Redknapp said that it was a goal chance that even his missus would have put away with ease.

Bent went on to net 12 times for Spurs last term but that was not enough to persuade Redknapp he was worth keeping on.

So the England hitman was on his bike, eventually, after commenting on his Twitter website how much he wanted to join Sunderland at the end of what became the summer’s most protracted transfer deal.

Bent finally got his wish with a £12 million switch that took him from London to the north east of England.

Could not have put much more distance between him and Redknapp if he had tried, could he? But the move promises to work out a treat.

It took Bent just five minutes to make his mark.

After Johan Elmander’s clumsy foul on Steed Malbranque, Sunderland’s French midfielder picked himself up in time to flick on George McCartney’s quick free-kick to the far post.

And there was Bent, precisely placed to power a header across Bolton keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen and into the bottom far corner of the net.

It was a strike which will, no doubt, have agitated Bent’s fiercest critic Redknapp.

But there was no denying that the rejuvenated striker took his goal with all the aplomb of, well, Sandra Redknapp.

Bruce enthused: “Isn’t it just great for a manager when your new centre forward can get off the mark like that?

“It’s that kind of thing which tells me that all the hard work we put in to get Darren to our club is going to pay off handsomely.

“He has a tremendous appetite and desire, his work rate is superb and he is going to be a terrific asset.

“He gives you something different, and he possesses plenty of pace and power as well as an eye for goal. He is everything I want.”

Bent could easily have come out of this clash with a hat-trick, but the fact he didn’t meant the Wearsiders were hanging on towards the end as Gary Megson’s battling Bolton launched a fierce second-half fight-back.

And, had it not been for a magnificent reflex save by Black Cats keeper Marton Fulop from Sean Davis in the fourth minute of stoppage time, Wanderers would have picked up an unlikely point.

Megson moaned: “Last season, we tended to start off games at a high tempo and full of commitment, but this time we opened up very sluggish.

“It was a complete reversal to last term because we really looked a different side after the interval.

“That pleased me, but the manner in which we conceded did not because our defending was nowhere near what I expect at set-pieces.”