Charlton Athletic Online

Alan Shearer makes his final venture south to London for a Premiership fixture today, when Charlton take on Newcastle; not a favourite at The Valley, it will be interesting to see if he gets a better reception than is usual.

The blogs are coming thick and fast at the moment; having just recovered from the Boro quarter final, and the semi-final draw, we have this important home fixture.

The official site preview is here. It makes good reading, but also raises some important issues that effect who may play for Charlton this afternoon.

Darren Bent is carrying an injury, and as he was doubtful for Thursday, I really cannot see him playing today sadly. Hopefully, he will be back for next weekend's game...

Who replaces him is open, as a lot will depend on the formation that Curbs decides to use; when Charlton played at St James a little over a month ago, he openly admitted that the trained-for 4-4-2 formation was switched in the dressing room prior to the game when he saw the side Newcastle planned to put out. I think Curbs will stick with the 4-5-1 for this match, as it actually makes the team easier to pick! I therefore think Shaun Bartlett (left) will play upfront on his own instead of Bent.

Chris Powell, who had another graet game midweek, will proabbly be rested, and the suggestion is that Luke Young may be too, though without too many right backs at the club (El Karkouri?), it will be interesting to see how we get on if this is the case.

This is the team that I think Curbs will play today -

Myrhe, Young, Hreidersson, Perry, Spector, Kishishev, Hughes, Euell, Rommedahl, Thomas, Bartlett.
Subs - Andersen, El Karkouri, Holland, Ambrose, Bent (M).

My one to watch this afternoon is going to be Jason Euell - I think he just has to play, and it's about time we got a performance (and a goal?) from our reecord signing.

Pedro45's score prediction is not happy, a win would take us up two places to eleventh in the table, but I cannot see past another 0-0 draw. I hope I'm wrong, but after seeing Newcastle wimper at Stamford Bridge, and Charlton's ability to only fire blanks when Dazza is missing, I cannot be too optimistic sadly...We also don't win very often when Mike Halsey is referee!!!

Come on you reds!