Blackburn Preview

Another one of those games that we always seem to lose, I'm looking forward to this one as much as Bolton at home last week. Despite having, to all intents and purposes, a pretty crap team, Mark Hughes looks like he may have got them working as a coherent unit (no mean feat when your starting XI includes Bellamy, Tugay and Bentley) and, with the right injection of personnel in the transfer window, may even make a run for a European place. In contrast with previous seasons, Blackburn appear to have some goalscorers - Pedersen, Bellamy and Kuqi are all capable of scoring and there is always a threat from midfield.

Charlton's problems at the moment appear to be solely related to home form - the 5 man midfield works superbly away from the Valley, and Curbishley is highly unlikely to change it for what promises to be an arduous trip up North. Hopefully Bent will be fit again after picking up a virus - he was badly missed against Bolton, and Thomas may push for a recall after being left out of the starting lineup for the last couple of games.

Gormless Tool Lawrenson is prediciting a 1-1 draw. For once I find it hard to disagree with him