Charlton v Sheffield United Preview

It wasn’t so long ago since both of these sides were in the Premiership and because of that, you’d assume that both should be challenging for promotion. As it turns out, immense pressure is on Alan Pardew following an awful start from Charlton, while Sheffield United are living up to expectations and sit in 5th position.

There’s a real chance that should Charlton suffer defeat in this one, Alan Pardew may find himself looking for a new job. While the Addicks only just lost to big spenders Birmingham last week, their dreadful form of late has meant that they’ve been sucked into a relegation battle and now lie in 20th position. They haven’t won in their last seven and even though Pardew has had his hands tied behind his back in the way that he’s been forced to sell some players, he still has a strong squad at his disposal. Their last game at The Valley saw the team lose 3-1 to Barnsley and fans call for Pardew’s head. Should a similar result follow on Saturday, don’t be surprised if something similar occurs.

As for Sheffield United, they suffered their first defeat in six after losing to Reading last week. Kevin Blackwell bemoaned his sides’ lapses in concentration and inability to finish off chances and he’ll be hoping for drastic improvement through this fixture. Despite their good form up until then, the Blades’ position isn’t too solid and Blackwell knows that another defeat and they could be out of the top six. With a game against league leaders Wolves and a tricky visit to Ipswich following this fixture, it’s important that United register some early points on the board as they head into the festive schedule.

Alan Pardew has been threatening to delve into the loan market for weeks and he finally made his move by securing Sunderland’s Martyn Waghorn this week. The youngster is a striker and considering Charlton’s problems of late, it’s likely that he’ll be thrown straight in at the deep end. Elsewhere, Pardew will be without both Therry Racon and Jonathon Fortune, who are suffering from knee and foot injuries respectively. As for Sheffield United, Kevin Blackwell is hopeful on Danny Webber who sat out the Reading game due to a hamstring injury. However, the Blades will still be without Ugo Ehiogu through suspension, meaning that Matt Kilgallon can keep his place in the side.

Charlton might be in poor form but they put up a real fight at Birmingham and at one stage it looked as though they would take all three points. While Sheffield United have an excellent team on paper, that defeat at Reading could have knocked the stuffing out of them and we can’t see them responding with a victory. We’ll predict a draw – a scrappy 1-1.