Charlton v Everton preview

...as the weekend's results all went our way really.

So we enter this game four points behind seventh placed Bolton having played a game more. Given the start to the season we had, that's not a bad position to be in as we enter the final furlong. (Look, it's National weekend, there's going to be horse racing analogies everywhere!)

But the Valley has not been a happy one for the Blues in recent seasons. Last term we were beaten down there by two goals in the last ten minutes and we had Ferguson sent off after he'd been on the pitch for a whole seven minutes! In fact, that was the game that precipitated our poor run of form in the second half of last season. Up until that point we had lost just three Premiership games all season but, after that defeat, we lost nine out of the next 18 league games.

But we still clung on to fourth spot and no-one can ever take that away from us. So there! Incidentally, for anyone who's reading this thinking: ‘Is that the height of our ambitions these days? To finish fourth!' Then I'd say yes it is, as the current top four teams (Those being Chelsea, Man United, Arsenal and the shite) have complete hegemony over the top three spaces, end of!

But this match is massively important to our European hopes. If we lose then we will slip below Charlton, and potentially Newcastle, and into the bottom half. If we win, then we can potentially go ahead of West Ham (they are away at Chelsea), level with Wigan (at home to Birmingham) and a point behind Bolton (who travel to the tin mine across the park). So there really is a lot to play for. But then this throws up another question. Should we go all out for European qualification or start to play a team that will set us up for the start of next season? Or, can we do both.

As much as no-one likes to admit it, our strongest defensive pairing is Stubbs and Weir. They were the bedrock of last season's miserly defence, and things have certainly tightened up since Alan Stubbs came back. But, this could well be the last season for both of them as we cannot carry on indefinitely with an ageing defence. There's not much point splitting the two of them up and placing Yobo or Ferrari in with one of them as, last week being a prime example, things tend to fall apart! So do we look to next season and play Ferrari and Yobo in the middle? They looked like they were forming a good partnership at the back until Yobo had to go to Africa and Ferrari got injured. And, if we don't play them, then there's little chance of either of them staying on ‘til next season.

Goalie

And that brings us onto the goalkeepers! Last week's poll gave an overwhelming vote for Iain Turner to be given a go between the sticks. The bad news for both Richard Wright and John Ruddy was that more people would sooner see a corner flag in goal than the two of them put together! But, would we be in safer hands with Iain Turner in? Everyone knows that Richard Wright doesn't inspire confidence in the crowd, let alone the players around him, but would it be a massive leap of faith to put a lad in goal who got a rush of blood to the head in the first 10 minutes of his Premiership debut and got sent off, albeit unjustly? To be fair to him, it was a dreadful header back from Alan Stubbs, but he couldn't cope when the pressure was on!

These are all questions that the manager must consider as we go into a must-win match if we have any hopes of European qualification. Personally, I would start playing Turner, Yobo and Ferrari at the back and look ahead to next season. And there's no reason why these three players can't rise to the challenge and keep the defence in order. We would then need to place a big weight of responsibility on Phil Neville's shoulders as he would have to be the one to lead the team from start to finish and keep the players motivated and organised. Again, there's no reason why he couldn't rise to this challenge! But we'll have to wait and see what Moysey does.

So three points for the blues at the Valley and it's time to start checking your holiday chart for midweek breaks in August. Three points for Charlton and you'll be spending those holidays walking round B&Q looking for tins of paint because you could probably do with giving the front room a lick of paint, y'know, before the winter sets in!

Score draw anyone?

Oh yeah, and if anyone's interested, the last time we won at Charlton was in August 2001 thanks to goals from Ferguson and Weir. Our Premiership record at the Valley reads: Played 6, Won 2, Drawn 1, Lost 3, Scored 7 and Conceded 11.