Charlton Athletic face Fulham U23s on Wednesday evening at The Valley in the second round of fixtures in the Checkatrade Trophy.
Having edged out a narrow 1-0 victory at the weekend, beating South London rivals AFC Wimbledon, the Addicks now turn their attention to the first of their two cup fixtures this week before taking on Truro City in the FA Cup first round this Sunday.
Currently occupying second place in the Southern Group A after beating Crawley Town 2-0 in the first round of games in September, a win for Charlton would all but guarantee safe passage into the knockout stages of the competition with six points from their first two games.
Finding Form
Karl Robinson’s side have been impressive so far this season and find themselves fourth in League One with a game in hand on teams above. Charlton will look to the likes of Tarique Fosu-Henry and Ricky Holmes to be the stand-out performers once again with both men leading the way in the scoring charts with seven and five goals respectively.
Stern Test
Winning their last three games, Fulham U23’s will be no pushovers. The Cottagers have were unbeaten in the PL2 in October, scoring an impressive eight goals in just three games whilst also maintaining a strong defence, conceding two goals during that period.
Charlton’s defence must be wary of the threat posed by Fulham’s Jon Dagur Thorsteinson and Elijah Adebayo. The teenagers have been amongst the goals recently and their link-up play could be key for the west Londoners if they hope to leave the Valley with a result.
Expectations
Should Charlton go with a predominantly senior side, the fans of the south-east London side will be expecting a victory given the difference in experience between the two sides. But if not prepared, the Addicks could be in for a tough 90 minutes come 19:45pm on Wednesday night.