Charlton Athletic Vs Preston North End
Coca Cola Championship Saturday 8th March 2008
After a last gasp winner at the Walkers Stadium, Alan Irvine will be hoping for more of the same at the Valley, though admittedly is easier said than done. Charlton have only lost at home once in 2008 and so it will be a tall order for Alan Irvine and his men to take three points from the promotion hopefuls. Those three points though could see North End jump to 17th place, putting some daylight between them and the bottom three. So with Charlton still hopeful of going up automatically and the Lilywhites still nervously looking over their shoulders it is an important game for both teams as a defeat for Charlton could see them slip out of the play-off places.
Despite the 15 places separating the two sides, both have only won 2 out of their last six games making this a fixture that shouldn't be taken lightly by Alan Pardew. Pardew of course knows all about beating North End, the play-off final in 2005 for example for West Ham and will be hoping he can find the winning formula again this Saturday.
Previous Meetings
The 5:20 kick off game at Deepdale earlier this season saw Charlton head back to London with all three points after a 2-0 victory. A goal each from Zheng Zhi and Luke Varney proved to me too much for Preston in what was Alan Irvine's first game in charge at Deepdale. As Charlton have enjoyed Premiership football for the last few years we have to go back to the 1979/1980 season where Preston enjoyed the majority of the points after a 1-1 draw at the Valley and a 3-0 win at Deepdale.
Saturday's game will be 65th time these two sides have met with Preston having the upper hand having won 29 of them, compared to Charlton's 23 victories and 12 draws.
Team News
Preston will be without new loan signing Craig Beattie after he was taken off with a hamstring injury in the game on Tuesday night at Leicester. Callum Davidson is now available after serving his two game suspension and so could replace Matt Hill at left full back. Preston are still sweating over the fitness of Richard Chaplow. The only other notable absentees are Wayne Henderson (back) and Michael Hart (hip) who are still out with their respective long term injuries.
Charlton will welcome new boy Leroy Lita into the sixteen man squad after he completed a loan move from Reading in midweek to bolster their attacking options.