Portsmouth will arrive at The Valley fully rested after their 2-0 home win against Cardiff last Saturday.
However, their hosts will have had only a couple of days to deal with the stresses and strains of Wednesday's QPR game during which they did a lot of chasing the ball. Manager of the Month contender Nathan Jones is not impressed:
"The schedule and what happens is crazy and there is nothing we can do about it. We have been on the end of Wednesday Saturday back to backs. We ask for one more big effort from the players and then we can breathe a bit before we have the Cardiff game."
Portsmouth have had an erratic start to the season and they haven't really faced any of the big clubs yet. They began with a 1-3 home defeat to QPR but followed up by going up to Lincoln and winning 3-1. They then lost at Bristol City 1-2 and at home to Derby 0-2. Last weekend's defeat of Cardiff was particularly welcome and it moved them to seventeenth with a game in hand on most of the clubs around them.
Their big summer signing was tall striker Marko Milovanovic from Almeira who has scored twice so far. Supporters were very pleased when Abu Kamara arrived from Hull as he played a major part in their promotion from League One in 2024 when on loan at Fratton Park from Norwich. Other expensive signings are Rocco Shein from Fredrikstad and Tyrese Shade from Burton Albion.
Charlton’s midfield has lacked some dynamism and control since Nathaniel Chalobah’s injury. Nathan Jones needs to decide if he wants to play with more width or to change the make up of the midfield. Last year we saw one player sitting, one attacking and one shuttling between the two. This season, the two sitting midfielders are struggling to link up with the player in the number ten position. Portsmouth’s Adrian Segečić will push forward from that number ten role to play almost as a second striker and to make sure all of the Charlton back four are occupied by an attacker. It will be important that everyone else tracks Pompey runners.
Despite our impressive record against Pompey in the last twenty years or so we came very unstuck last season. Having equalised very late at Fratton Park in December it was particularly painful to immediately concede another with the last kick of the match. The home game was even worse with a goalkeeping error gifting Portsmouth an early lead which was trebled before Fevrier got one back.
Despite our current lofty position Portsmouth will surely see us as a rival in what may well become another relegation struggle. Our patched-up squad will be strengthened by the availability of Danny McNamara but we will be sweating on news of Miles Leaburn's fitness and hoping that Tyreece Campbell still has some energy left. Nevertheless, there is no reason why we can't garner another three points and, if we could do that and add to our tally at Cardiff, our squad should be able to enjoy the international break feeling pretty satisfied.
Arthur Okonkwo - who made a crucial save towards the end of the QPR game - is seeing the positives:
“The games are coming thick and fast. A good point at home today, with a clean sheet, which I think was really important and it puts us in a good place going into the game against Portsmouth.”
Photo by Rhea Spencer-Newell