Portsmouth will arrive at The Valley on Saturday having dropped into the relegation places after their home defeat by Bristol City last weekend.

However, if we want an example of a newly promoted side adapting to The Championship and overcoming adversity, then we need look no further than our visitors. It took Portsmouth ten games last season before they won a game and it was November before they first won at home - by which time they were bottom of the league. They were in the relegation places from mid-September to early January but they stuck by their manager - John Mousinho - and during the spring they gradually pulled away to safety, thanks mainly to good form at home. Having broken their duck at home, they won eleven and drew four of their seventeen remaining home games.

However, that home form has deserted them this season - they have lost five of ten already - and their away form isn't inspiring either. They won at Oxford on the opening day and gained impressive draws at Southampton and West Brom but have been well beaten at Birmingham (0-4), Hull (2-3) and Sheffield United (0-3) in recent weeks. There have been some rumblings of discontent about Mousinho although he insists there is no need for panic. His response to the Bristol City defeat was:

"The game was defined by the opening 25 minutes where we weren't at the races at all and that's putting it kindly. We fell behind to a side who were much hungrier and looked like they wanted the challenge of coming here and winning the game a bit more".

Saturday's game is unlikely to be pretty to watch. Both teams average under 50% possession for the season, with the Addicks sitting a lowly 23rd in the possession table. Portsmouth sit fourth for accurate long balls per match, hitting 25.3 balls long compared to Charlton’s 18.7. Once again, Lloyd Jones' aerial strength will be key. One weakness Nathan Jones will look to exploit is Portsmouth’s ability to defend set pieces as the south coast side have conceded eleven set piece goals; only Sheffield Wednesday have conceded more. Charlton have scored ten set piece goals and only conceded three, so don’t be surprised to see the ball go out of play a lot. Finally, only Sheffield Wednesday have scored fewer goals than Portsmouth.

Nathan Jones is very aware of the importance of the next few games:

"December's a big month for us. It'll define what we do and we've got to stay in and around it. We've got to pick up results and then once we do that, we'll be able to strengthen in January, we'll get people back and then we can be a bit more us."

Many will be thinking about the events of thirty three years ago but this weekend is also the anniversary of that night last season when we lost at home to Crawley. In a League One game in front of eleven thousand fans, twelfth place Charlton pumped hopeful balls up field in the vague direction of Leaburn and Ahadme. It seemed like it was as low as it could get but in fact, after 0-0 draws with Lincoln and Mansfield, we dropped to fourteenth.

Just look where we are now.

Keep the faith and make a lot of noise on Saturday. That should help the team be "a bit more us"