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Kevin Davies, the Bolton Wanderers forward, claimed last night that Barclays Premier League managers have instructed their players to dive to get him dismissed.

Davies has committed 695 fouls during his career, a Premier League record, and fears his reputation is being used against him by opponents attempting to deceive referees.

“Certain teams or managers will just say, ‘Go down’ if I’m anywhere near and try and get you booked,” the 32-year-old said. “I think it goes on quite a lot.

“Recently there’s been a few games where it’s obvious to me that people have been told to go over the top and make a meal of any sort of contact with me. They do that to try and get me out of the game. I don’t mind it, really, I just get on with it and do the job.”

Davies declined to name specific clubs or managers. Among their recent matches, Bolton met Manchester United last month — whose manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, condemned the forward’s style of play last season — and they faced Chelsea twice last week.

Davies also criticised the attitude of “foreign” players in the Premier League for demanding too much protection from referees over the physical side of the game. “Football is a man’s game,” he said. “The British ones [defenders] are more used to it and probably relish playing against me. The foreign players go screaming to refs and it just annoys you. You just think, ‘Get on with the game.’ I would like to see men stand up and take it a bit more.”

The striker faces Richard Dunne, the Aston Villa defender, in Bolton’s away match today and exempts the Irishman from criticism. “It will be an old-school battle against Dunne, he’s a big, strong lad,” Davies said. “We’ve had lots of battles and after the game I’ll shake his hand and say thanks for the battle.”Dunne will have a new midfield enforcer in front of him today, with Stiliyan Petrov, the Villa captain, suspended.

Nigel Reo-Coker has battled his way to the front of the queue because Martin O’Neill said the former England Under-21 captain has proved his professionalism in the wake of their training-ground falling out in September.

Reo-Coker impressed when he was introduced as a half-time substitute in Wednesday’s 2-1 defeat away to West Ham United, his former club, and stands by to start alongside Steve Sidwell in the centre of midfield. “He has as good a chance as anybody,” the Villa manager said. “The spat is well and truly forgotten and he’s fighting his way back. He’s been excellent in training and I want him to take that confidence out on to the field with him. He played 90 minutes in the Carling Cup game away to Sunderland last week, and against West Ham, where it was not easy for him going back, I thought he coped pretty well. He’s a professional player and I’m not really expecting anything else [other than his good response].”