Hogan Ephraim, Queen’s Park Rangers’ 23-year-old Islington born winger, has been signed by Charlton on loan until 3 January.

Still to be officially announced by the club, the move was completed yesterday.

Ephraim is right-footed but can operate on the left and down the middle, as well as on the right. Rangers mainly used him on the left and he made 29 appearances for them last season. He was initially on loan in West London from West Ham but made the switch permanent in January, with the Hammers receiving a £800,000 fee. Ephraim did not make Neil Warnock’s 25 man Premier League squad and Warnock is keen to get some game time into him.

If used on the left, it would free up Johnnie Jackson to move inside to partner Danny Hollands in Stephens’ absence. Andy Hughes has taken Stephens’ place of course, but with Stephens sidelined for several weeks, Chris Powell will want plenty of options with the busy Christmas period coming up.

It is unclear if Ephraim will be allowed to play in the FA Cup, but if he is, he will probably start on Sunday.

The fringe players have not had a match since the friendly with Millwall on 18 October so Powell may wish to have a sprinkling of regulars in his starting line-up. Players such as Hamer, Wiggins, Hollands, Jackson and Wright-Phillips will almost certainly be rested but with seven subs allowed on the bench in the FA Cup, the rest of the regular line-up could well feature or be on the bench.