West Ham v Charlton Preview

A short trip through the 'pipe' to visit West Ham comes at a time when both teams are thinking of other things, namely the FA Cup. Despite a torrid autumn the Addicks have revived somewhat, at least at home, and are currently only 3 points adrift of the Hammers. Unfortunately our away form, despite the 3 heroic draws against Chelsea, Liverpool and Newcastle, has been pretty appalling with only these 3 points out of the last 10 away games, only 6 goals scored and no wins since our win at Portsmouth back in October.

Although the forthcoming Cup Replay still provides some interest in the season it is our away form that appears to illustrate what a disappointing season it has been. This becomes clear when we see that we have failed to win 2 games in a row since we dispatched Birmingham at home on September 10. While our improvement at home has raised the spirits its the overall lack of consistency that continues to disappoint. Having said that it is obviously encouraging that when everyone expects Charlton's usual end-of-season slump, we seem to be enjoying our best form for several months with only 2 defeats in the last 8 games to Man. City, where we scored 2 very good goals, and the all-conquering Arsenal.

The main reason for the current revival stems from the solidity of the back-four and the midfield trio of Kish, Holland and Hughes. The midfield may be unheralded and unloved by some, but somehow, ( practise makes prefect?), they have began to prove if not wonderfully creative at least solid. In fact its probably because Curbs can consistently name the same first 8 players on the teamsheet and without any injury problems that has given us some optimism that we may end the season on a high.

And as we know current league form can always be turned on its head in the frenzy of a local derby. One further source of optimism can be gained by looking at the history of games against the Hammers, where Charlton have a clear advantage over our rivals in the League games, which is a bit odd when comparing our dismal records against other local teams. While we tend to succeed in the league games, its West Ham that usually win in the cup games, a rather odd occurrence which I suppose amply demonstrates our bad cup record over the years. West Ham, remember, have won it 3 times and lost another one.

Thanks to the wonders of Murdochvision its another one of those strange Sunday games at the absurd time of 4 o'clock. However, it does mean that we can allow ourselves to dream after Everton's failure to beat Sunderland which gives us the chance to leap into the top half of table for the first time since November if we can manage a win at the Boleyn.

Curbs will probably play his best away team in his usual cautious fashion with a 4-5-1 formation with Darren up front and with probably no changes in personnel from the Newcastle game.

Interestingly nobody seems to favour an away win here. cynic athletic goes for a conservative 2-2 while lawro favours the Hammers with a 2-1. Pedro 45( I wonder why its 45, must be his age) hopes for a 2-0 home win so as to upset cup form against them. I've got no idea so because of all the optimism that I've spoken about above I'm going for a pathetic home 2-0 to continue our away dismal form and because we're Charlton.