Preston North End Vs Charlton Athletic
Coca-Cola Championship Saturday 30th August 2008
Preston failed to maintain their unbeaten run on Tuesday night after being Ram raided by a confidence lacking Derby County. As a result, Irvine will be looking to get back on track immediately, but it will not be easy with Alan Pardew's Charlton Athletic being their forthcoming fixture. Charlton come off the back of an impressive display against a much-fancied Reading side having beaten them 4-2 at the Valley.
Charlton have got themselves off to a mixed start this season which may not surprise some areas of the press who will have dismissed their chances this season. Their league form consists of two wins and a defeat, which came against Watford.
To ensure that the Addicks make it two league wins on the spin, Alan Pardew was in attendance on Tuesday night for Preston's aforementioned defeat to Derby and will be more than aware of Preston's lack of cutting edge that was clearly on display. This was something that was evident to Alan Irvine and will need to be addressed in time for Saturday.
When presented with the question about his attacking options, Irvine revealed that it is something that they are working on but due to financial constraints, it is proving to be difficult but is one of their main priorities, amongst others.
Head to Head
Andy Gray, the former Burnley striker has proved to be a thorn in Preston's side in recent years. His winning goal for the Clarets in the 3-2 defeat at Turf Moor, in October 2006 broke Preston hearts - especially after being 2-1 up. With that in mind, it will be St Ledger's job to thwart the former Sheffield United striker in his tracks so I expect there to be an interesting battle between the two to be on the cards. St Ledger has showed he is no push over and has those battling qualities when the chips are down, the sort of attributes you need to play against a target man like Gray. Alan Irvine revealed that St Ledger broke his nose against Derby in midweek but still carried on - which is testament to the extent of St Ledger's battling qualities.
Previous Meetings
The last time Charlton visited Deepdale it was Alan Irvine's first game in charge of Preston and so cannot be faulted for the 2-0 defeat. A goal in each half from Zheng Zhi and Luke Varney was enough to seal the points, with both goals coming in injury time of their respective half's. When North End visited the Valley three months later after Irvine had had time to turn Preston's fortune around, it appeared to be an entirely different side to the one that Alan Irvine inherited from Paul Simpson. Two goals from new striker Chris Brown were enough to see off Charlton in a 2-1 win in what was an all round impressive performance.
Alan Irvine had admitted to showing Brown videos of Ruud Van Nistelrooy before hand, which might explain Brown's exquisitely taken second goal. Those of you who witnessed it will know what I mean.
In total, Charlton have visited Deepdale 31 times with Preston have a distinct advantage over the Addicks in terms of both goals and wins. The Deepdale faithful will be hoping that the current squad can follow suit and get a win on Saturday to continue Preston's unbeaten league form.
Team News
Callum Davidson is set for a recall having recovered from his knee injury that has kept him from making a return to the Scotland squad for the first time in six years. However, with Matt Hill putting in solid performances, it isn't going to be easy for Davidson to displace the former Bristol City defender.
There are no fresh injury worries for Preston with the only others being the long-term absentees in Wayne Henderson, Liam Chilvers and Chris Brown who are all not likely to feature any time soon.
Darren Ambrose and Svetoslav Todorov both featured for Charlton reserves on Wednesday but are both deemed not quite fit enough for the first team.
Linvoy Primus may make his debut after moving on loan from Portsmouth.