Chris Wilder's return to Sheffield United wasn't quite in time to inspire his team to victory against us on a very wet day at Bramall Lane back in September.

However, over the ensuing four months he has succeeded in completely turning around the fortunes of his club after their horrendous start under Ruben Selles. Wilder arrived with the club having lost its first five games and, thanks to a late Tanto Olaofe goal, we turned that into six. His team then managed to beat Oxford, Blackburn and Watford but, after fifteen games and eleven defeats, they still only had ten points and were 22nd.

Since then they have won seven of ten - including home and away games against Leicester and Stoke - and are now above Charlton in sixteenth place with 32 points. No team has accrued more points than United in the past ten games and they are the top scorers in The Championship over the past eight games with 19 goals.

Wilder has achieved all this with largely the same group of players that he inherited in September but a recent addition looks like being the cherry on the cake. Patrick Bamford had been without a club since being released by Leeds at the end of last season but he signed for The Blades on a short term deal in mid-November. That deal was due to expire this week but he has just committed to a further eighteen months. He is still only 32 and he brings the experience of 102 Premier League games with 24 goals and a full England cap. He has already scored six goals in eleven appearances for his new employers and, alongside Callum O'Hare, Gustavo Hamer and Tyrese Campbell, he will provide a real attacking threat to our patched up defence.

However, The Blades' goals conceded (38) is one of the highest - only QPR, Norwich and Sheffield Wednesday are worse. Recent defeats at Wrexham (5-3) and at home to Mansfield in the FA Cup (3-4) should give our forwards some grounds for optimism.

Wilder has switched his team to playing an old school 4-4-2 formation since the reverse fixture in September, a system that Nathan Jones will hope to exploit. Our back three are unlikely to be pulled too far out of position by the Sheffield United front two and the extra man in midfield, likely to be Sonny Carey, will find himself with time and space to drive forward. The visitors are second in the league for set piece goals, albeit having only scored one more than The Addicks, but Charlton have conceded the third least which should nullify a big weapon.

With tough away games at Millwall and Leicester coming up it is vital that Charlton make the most of home advantage in this fixture and against Derby next Tuesday. Six points would be excellent but four wouldn't be a bad return against two clubs above us in the table. The arrival this week of Harry Clarke and Lyndon Dykes strengthens Nathan Jones’s options but he is under no illusions about the task ahead:

"Sheffield United away and Derby away were two massively competitive games earlier on this season. They're two clubs that have been around the Championship for a long time, Sheffield United in the Premier League in very recent history, so it'll be a difficult set of games."