Chris Powell will ‘use his squad’ tonight as the Addicks field a reserve team to take on Preston.
The Lillywhites will make several changes from their normal line-up but are likely to put out a stronger team than Charlton.
Preston are in good form, being unbeaten since suffering an opening day defeat against Colchester at Deepdale.
Powell had this to say about his likely line-up:
“I have to look after my squad and keep an eye on any fringe players to make sure they get games, so there will be one or two changes for Preston.
“Obviously, I don’t want Phil Brown to know exactly what I’m doing, but I’ve got confidence in my squad anyway, so if I do make a lot of changes, I’m confident the boys will give their all for us.
“There are players who have been looking to play games but because of the results and performances, it’s been hard to get them in. Tuesday could be another chance for them following the Reading game and I’ll be looking for them to produce a similar result.
“I was ever so pleased against Reading, they were more experienced than us on the night but what I liked about the players was they took on board everything I said to them the day before and they played well.
“I’d like to see us repeat that against Preston, and I’d like to see us have a cup run because it gives them games.
“I’m confident whatever XI goes out there will perform and give their all for the shirt.”
“Having only five substitutes in the league now means we can’t always reward a young player with a place on the bench and give them that matchday experience, but with seven in the cup on Tuesday, I may look to get some youngsters on the bench, and they could even get some minutes on the pitch, but we’ll see how the game goes,” said Powell.
It can be taken as read that ‘one or two changes’ is a euphamism for a totally different team. Evina, Green, Doherty and Benson have been struggling while Mikel Alonso has yet to feature. If available, Charlton could look like this:
Sullivan; Francis, Cort, Mambo, Evina; Green, Hughes, Pritchard, Bover; Euell, Benson.
Subs: Hamer, Solly, Morrison, Warren, Wagstaff, Davisson, Popo.
Fred Graham from Essex will be the man in charge.
It’s almost impossible to predict these games and individual performances will be important to Powell.