Everton land Robbo 'target' Gravesen

The 31-year-old has been signed on a year-long loan from Celtic and is clearly the midfield re-enforcement manager David Moyes wanted after his attempts to sign Manuel Fernandes from Benfica collapsed at the weekend.

Gravesen has been out of favour at Celtic for some time and the subject of transfer speculation involving Sheffield United and Fulham this summer.

The Denmark international first moved to Everton from Hamburg for 2.5million but with his contract due to expire in the summer of 2005, Everton sold the player to Real Madrid for 2.5million in the January of that year.

But now he is back on Merseyside, where he became a cult figure among Toffees fans.

He said: “I am really looking forward to coming back to Everton, it is a chance to play top-flight football in the Premier League again.”

Gravesen moved to Celtic in 2006, where he has had a chequered time, and he has not figured in any of their matches this season.

n Coventry boss Iain Dowie will hope to avoid the manager-of-the-month “curse” when his side face Preston tomorrow.

Two wins and a draw from their opening three games have taken the Sky Blues top of the Coca-Cola Championship and seen Dowie claim the monthly managerial award.

That often accompanies a slump in form for the recipient's side but Dowie's men should be in confident mood against struggling Preston.

Paul Simpson's side were challenging for promotion last season and missed out on a play-off place by just one point, but have taken just one point from their three games so far.

“I'm obviously delighted to receive this reward and it's testament to the hard work put in by the players, coaching staff and everyone who works for Coventry City,” Dowie said.

“It's obviously very early in the season but we're delighted with the start we've had and hopefully we can build on that in the coming months.”

Two promotion hopefuls clash at Vicarage Road where fifth-placed Watford take on Ipswich, second behind Coventry purely on alphabetical order.