Saturday's meeting with Sheffield United at The Valley emphasises how quickly fortunes can change.

The visitors  have their sights on the play-off places but only a few weeks ago they were entrenched in the lower half of the table. We topped the table back in August but our ambitions have become rather more modest, with the growing priority being to end our winless run and stay clear of the relegation zone.

While Charlton have been struggling to find consistency, The Blades are moving in the opposite direction. After a difficult start to the season, Chris Wilder's side are increasingly looking like a team capable of challenging for a promotion slot. Their recent improvement has been built on growing defensive solidity and a more confident approach going forward. At Preston on Tuesday evening, they recovered from conceding an early goal to take a commanding lead, with midfielder Sydie Peck scoring a remarkable first-half hat-trick. With Ben Brereton Díaz, Tom Cannon and Patrick Bamford leading the attack they are well equipped to cut through defences in several ways.

If United's revival shows how quickly fortunes can change in the Championship, Charlton will be hoping that their own luck is due to turn. Tuesday's narrow defeat to Bolton was another frustrating example of how fine the margins can be. Nathan Jones spoke of gifting the visitors their goal, and Bolton made their one shot on target count. Against a Sheffield United side growing in confidence, we simply cannot afford to be so generous. That means cutting out mistakes at the back, competing effectively in midfield and, above all, making more of our opportunities in front of goal. We have shown that we can compete at this level, particularly in some encouraging second-half displays, but now need to put together a complete performance. Football is a game of 90 minutes, and Saturday's 90 minutes could be particularly important in turning our season around.

It is barely worth trying to predict how Charlton will line up. Eleven players will start in some form of shape and hope to get an early goal. Sheffield United will play an old fashioned 4-4-2 or a 4-2-3-1. As you’d expect from Chris Wilder, they are a solid defensive unit. Only Swansea better their five clean sheets and they rank highly in the division for interceptions per match. Attacks will mainly come down the wings which will stretch the play and could leave space in the middle for Charlton to exploit on the counter.

There is still the possibility that The Blades could be sucked into a relegation fight as a points deduction is not out of the question. The club was bought by COH Sports Bidco Limited (CSBL) for just over £100m in December 2024 but about £35m is still owed on the deal and a winding-up petition was filed in July against CSBL by United World - the club's former owners. Insolvency events are able to trigger a 12-point penalty under EFL rules so we watch with morbid interest.............

It was in November 1935 that Charlton and Sheffield United first met competitively -  almost exactly 91 years before this Saturday's encounter. There have been plenty of battles between our two sides since then, with both clubs enjoying their share of victories, disappointments and promotion campaigns. For Charlton supporters, the memories include Johnnie Jackson's winner at The Valley during Chris Powell's memorable 2011–12 season as well as the disappointment of an FA Cup quarter-final defeat at Bramall Lane two years later.

More recently, the Addicks have enjoyed the upper hand again by completing a Championship double over the Blades last season, albeit the home win was achieved against nine men. Both victories came by the narrowest of margins, suggesting that there has often been little to separate these two old footballing adversaries.

Confidence will be an important factor on Saturday and the home team are very short of it. They will need to feel that the crowd are with them. Supporters are frustrated and despondent but booing their own players won't help. Matt Godden has issued a rallying cry:

“It’s a tough one, and one that we’re all feeling in the dressing room. But it’s only us that can turn it around. We’ve just had a little chat amongst ourselves about how we need to dig in now. This is going to have to come from within."

“We’re going to need everyone. We need the fans; we need absolutely everyone to find something within themselves and really drive us on Saturday. It’s a big game leading into the international break, and we need to make sure we go into that break with some kind of result.”