Bolton manager Sam Allardyce revealed, "He has to get through the psychological barrier.
"The first ball that comes up and the first physical challenge around that cheekbone area will be the biggest test.
"While, physically, he is repaired, mentally it will be a challenge for him to overcome. We are having a mask done for him to see if he fancies wearing it.
"It will be very important to have Kevin back for us. We played some great stuff against Middlesbrough but there was a point when we wanted to change the direction of our play and, if we had had Kevin, we could have done that rather than constantly trying to play through midfield and round the back of them.
"He would have enabled us to mix it up a bit more and that might have brought us the opportunity to have clinched the victory so it will be important to have him back.
"You see the value of some people more when you haven't got them and the sooner he comes back the better."