The Valley will host it’s biggest crowd of the season for the visit of Portsmouth on Saturday.

There will be a crowd upwards of 16,000‎ present to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the club’s return to The Valley.

Pompey will be backed by 4,000 followers, so there should be a cracking atmosphere inside The Valley.

Portsmouth are appropriate opponents, they provided the opposition in that first game back home 25 years ago, and Charlton have played them more than any other club in their history.

Pompey are currently eighth in the table – two places below the Addicks – and will be a tough nut to crack.

Karl Robinson’s side have been ravaged with injuries, and the manager provided this update at his press conference on Thursday:

‎”Reevesy (Ben Reeves) is back, Sols (Chris Solly) will be back, Clarkey (Billy Clarke) will be back and obviously Pearcey (Jason Pearce) and Harry Lennon are too.

“It’s a very unique time , I’ve never had this many injuries at the same time and the number of games we have played recently is quite remarkable.
“But ten of the players that will start on Saturday didn’t travel on Tuesday, so they will be fresh.

“We’re very thin in a number of areas at the moment. Tariqe (Fosu) isn’t available and Patrick (Bauer) will be out for a few more weeks. Kashi’s is a bit of a serious one, he’ll be out for another three weeks or so. It’s a stress reaction in the bone of his foot.”

Bauer and Kashi are expected to be sidelined for around a month, and will miss the entire festive period.

Robinson mentioned that ten of the starting team did not travel to Swansea in the week. The player who started at the Liberty, and will start this game, will be either Karlan Ahearne-Grant, Joe Aribo or Leon Best.

Ahearne-Grant is in the form of his life at present, but Aribo is a leading contender to replace Kashi in midfield.

Ezri Konsa is another who could fill in for the Algerian, but Robinson will have to decide whether Pearce is sharp enough to start if he wants to push Konsa further forward.

Anfernee Dijksteel is another option for the manager.

Pearce – like Lennon – played for 45 minutes on Tuesday, his first action since picking up an injury in September.

Charlton could look something like this:

Amos; Solly, Konsa, Sarr, Dasilva; Aribo, Forster-Caskey, Marshall, Clarke, Holmes; Magennis.

Subs: Phillips, Dijksteel, Pearce, Jackson, Reeves, Ahearne-Grant, Best.

Andrew Madly from West Yorkshire will be the referee.

With some difficult away games coming up, the
‎Addicks could really do with a positive result from the game.

Robinson would happily settle for history repeating itself, and the game ending as it did 25 years ago, with a 1-0 home win.