Do AFCB take on a Huddersfield team with little to lose?

Since Chris Powell knows the Championship inside out and surely has a big folder on what Eddie Howe and his team have been doing. The league is now well formed and mid-table security looks bolted on for the Terriers. Their second half of the season could yet be better than what has gone before though and AFCB represent a goal that they can set themselves as an achievement to tick off before the season closes. Chris Powell will be telling his troops they have nothing to lose or at least very little - they should come and have a go.

Huddersfield sit well in mid-table but have they got higher ambitions.

A change in manager has seen the Terriers move away from the bottom clubs.

The ability to go on a run and stay unbeaten is a consistency that Huddersfield just have not found yet, but running out at Dean Court they'll probably be thinking of more than just stoppling a top team. You can forget about what happened up at the John Smith's Stadium earlier in the season. This is a different team and under another manager who will expect a very different performance. They need a few more wins as do AFCB so it will be an open game I would think.

The pressure at the top has been a constant for AFCB, but they have managed it well in recent weeks. Now they have to try and get back up there. The Cherries have had two big games at home of late with top six teams the visitors, but this one is different as they will need to make the atmosphere and heap the pressure back on Huddersfield to get a result. 

Cherry Chimes is featured on the Award-winning Thrice Champions' website now with a preview of the Huddersfield match!

The pressure is all on Charlton

Bournemouth's visit to the Valley will be a fairly pleasurable evening out for Cherry supporters. For once they will not be worried about taking on a team that for several seasons has been higher placed in the leagues and was able to poach some of the Cherries best players. The tables have turned and this season saw the arrival of Yann Kermorgant at Dean Court much to the consternation of many Addicks. Charlton's current position in the table gives them little reason to be happy either and with talk about ownership changes and a new manager taking over from Chris Powell all is not as happy as it might be at the Valley.

The first opportunity to improve matters really came and went for Charlton at the weekend when they played Millwall in what was a six pointer, but they only got a point in a game they desperately needed to win. Still they are off the bottom and that will have given them some hope, especially as they have four games in hand on Millwall who are just above them. Jose Riga was not displeased with the outcome of their last game so AFCB have to take on a team that are really looking to get a positive result against them which I think will help the Cherries if they can frustrate Charlton in the opening 30 minutes.

Charlton have struggled for goals all season and their leading scorer Simon Church only has seven to his name and he only came on for the last 12 minutes against Millwall. A positive for them was the two year contract extension that Jonnie Jackson signed last week. The 31 year old striker is the captain and his signature must have given the fans some pleasure. But not much else has been going right.

A view of the two teams the last time they met at the Goldsands Stadium in August 2013.

The January signing of Reza Goochannejhad has not yet made an impact as the striker has failed to score while Loic Nego has only made one appearance at full back. But the bright nes for the Addicks is the resigning of 23-year old striker Jonathan Obika from Spurs on loan.

Charlton have only one a single match in their last 10, but what a match. It was a 1-0 home win against QPR. They are not scoring that many but as we know 1-0 victories are all you need. Charlton have 24 goals this season compared to Bournemouth's 44, although the cherries have played three more games. What Charlton have been doing is not losing by many goals as they have only let in 41.

Addick fans will be wondering if owner Roland Duchatelet has made the right decisions with their Championship status at stake. But that will make for a loud atmosphere at the Valley I am sure and while Charlton may play with some fear at the back of their minds, AFCB will simply be looking to extend their unbeaten run and close the gap on the teams above them.

I look forward to seeing a few of you at the game tonight who will be Cheering on the Cherries - look out for Cherry Chimes!

Charlton Home Form:
WDLWD

AFCB Away Form:
LDLWW

How good are the Addicks?

So it is Charlton first up for AFCB on Saturday, just for a change. How random is that fixture compiling computer at football league headquarters. Oh well, never mind. By finishing ninth last season you could expect Chris Powell's team to be one of those eyeing a play-off place this season. I don't quite rate them as being that good, but they will be a strong team which is well drilled having spent some of the summer at a Marbella training camp.

It will be strange for them coming to Dean Court to see a four-sided stadium with our crowd as always on top of the players and making a cacophony of noise. So who have Charlton in their ranks? Yann Kermorgrant and Jackson were the Addicks leading scorers on 12 each last season. This does not shout prolific goalscorers.  Charlton have see four strikers depart over the summer leaving them with only a batch of young forwards and Kermorgant. Michael Smith, Joe Pigott and Jordan Cook are among Powell's options but he has also been trialing Adoma Coulibaly a French striker, so we could have two Coulibaly's on the pitch.

Mark Gower is a recent summer signing from Swansea City in midfield. The 34-year old played for the Addicks on loan in the last month of last season. Richard Wood, 28, has also been signed on a one-year deal to play in central defence having been released by Coventry City. Charlton have been slow to replace their strikers but on Thursday they brought in Marvin Sordell, from Watford on a one-year loan, an England U-21 player as well as Simon Church from Reading on a one-year loan deal. Sordell has been given the number nine shirt and he scored 27 goals in 57 starts for the Hornets.

Charlton have been pretty impressive in pre-season with many wins and a big 3:0 thumping of Pompey and 0:4 drubbing of St Mirren. They did come unstuck against Inverness Thistle but it the main they have been playing well against teams like Gibraltar.

It is likely that Rhoys Wiggins will keep his left back position against the Cherries ahead of Cedric Evina, but we may not see Danny Hollands feature for the Addicks.

Surman bolsters AFCB's midfield

AFCB's new one-year loan signing, Andrew Surman of Norwich City is well known to fans of the Cherries. The South African midfielder played 24 games, scoring six times, for AFCB in a previous loan spell from Southampton, back in 2005-06. The move is perhaps a surprise as most of us were expecting a striker to come in, if any one, looking at the current situation.

Surman is 26 and fits with Howe's need for experienced players that are available with minimal outlay that will add depth to the squad. It does make me ask the question is there a move on for one of our midfielders headed out of the club? But Howe now says that we have a small squad in Championship terms. Perhaps he is just relating us to Watford, who have just signed half the population of Udinese.

I was amused that one AFCB fan tweeted that the shape of the team is likely to be 4-6-0, I think he forgot that Howe might be tempted by three at the back to give us 3-7-0! No, I still fancy us to start 4-4-2 or even 4-3-3.

The main thing is that we get the best shape available for the team with the personnel we have available for Charlton and the one which will cause them the most problems. I like the way Eddie is making us all guess. It means Chris Powell has no chance of knowing how we will play either.

Still time for another striker or two as well - keep the faith!