Charlton v Wigan Athletic
Premiership leaders Charlton welcome top-flight newcomers Wigan Athletic to SE7 this Saturday for The Valley's first league game of the new season.
Alan Curbishley often talks of the number of 'happy weekends' Premiership managers get to enjoy - usually from the viewpoint that, for the average boss, they can be few and far between.
Indeed, August 2000 was the last time the Addicks chief experienced such a high - a win - on the opening day of the season, which would have made last Saturday's 3-1 victory at Sunderland all the more satisfying.
Indeed, Curbishley wasn't even at the club when Charlton last won away from home - against Cardiff City - on the season's opening day. That was 21 years ago in 1984.
While the Black Cats will certainly not be the toughest opposition the Valley men will come up against this year - it may still be early days, and the official website always strives not to tempt fate - but Curbishley could well be set for a few more of those satisfying Sunday mornings during 2005/06 if that result and performance is anything to go by.
Pre-season promised much, but promise was all it was until Saturday, when the Addicks put together a display that will have had SE7 salivating.
Even though Charlton's displays and results in the summer friendlies built up a certain amount of expectation, a point from the weekend's clash would still have been viewed as a solid result - but such an outcome couldn't have looked further from the team's minds.
All of a sudden, Curbishley's men seem to have the tools to be able to take the game to the opposition, even on their own turf, and that is something that travelling Charlton fans especially may find strange after recent times.
What is even less common is the Addicks managing three goals on their travels, with die-hard Charlton supporters treated to that particular feat only four times in the last three years, not including the most recent three-goal haul.
It's difficult to ignore the fact that the club's newest England international Darren Bent has added a new level of potency up front, but the word from inside the camp is that Russian international Alexei Smertin, albeit on a slightly quieter scale, has also brought a new dimension to the team, together with Darren Ambrose.
The three points and three goals collected from the Sunderland game was enough to see the Addicks top the Premiership pile, and Curbishley's men would appear to have a decent chance of cementing their lofty position when they take on newly promoted Wigan Athletic on Saturday (3pm) in their first Valley clash of the 2005/06 season.
The opposition
The Latics, riding the crest of a wave for the last few years having secured two promotions in three years, must now attempt to stay afloat in England's elite division, and manager Paul Jewell appears to have done his best during the summer in a bid to make that happen.
The £3m purchase of livewire striker Henri Camara comfortably filled the void left by the departure of last season's star man Nathan 'the Duke' Ellington to rivals West Bromwich Albion, and Jewell's summer shopping spree didn't end there.
The attacking ranks will be further bolstered by the arrival of goalscoring midfielder Damien Francis from Norwich City, and Wigan will go into their first ever Premiership campaign with plenty of defensive options as well.
Bringing in former Liverpool centre-half Stephane Henchoz - briefly linked with Charlton not so long ago - looks a shrewd move, as does the acquisition of last year's Portsmouth captain Arjan De Zeeuw.
Much-travelled goalkeeper Mike Pollitt commanded a fee of £200,000 despite the onset of his 34th birthday, while Jewell had no hesitation in parting with £750,000 for promising 21-year-old right-back Ryan Taylor from Tranmere Rovers.
If you add French defender Pascal Chimbonda to Wigan's clutch of new recruits it's clear that defensive sturdiness is among Jewell's main aims for his team's maiden Premiership voyage, and that was certainly evident in the Latics' season-opener at home to champions Chelsea last weekend.
Pollitt, Chimbonda, Henchoz and De Zeeuw all featured for a Wigan side who packed men behind the ball and Jewell's men seemed to be doing a fine job of frustrating their illustrious visitors.
Indeed, one of the most prized points of Jewell's managerial career looked to be in the bag when the scoreboard was still blank after 92 minutes, but then Hernan Crespo appeared at the death to ram home a brilliant shot and spoil the party.
Facing their first game away from home in the Premiership, it's likely that Wigan will adopt a similar approach this Saturday and look to utilise the considerable pace they have in the side for quick breakaways.
Fleet-footed Camara is once again expected to link up with the equally pacy Jason Roberts - the former West Brom man that formed a formidable partnership with Ellington last season - and it's a duo that will command plenty of respect.
It will be a homecoming of sorts for local lad Jimmy Bullard who, despite never being on Charlton's books, was among the top players in South London as a youngster - former West Ham United manager Harry Redknapp finally giving him his chance as a professional when he snapped him up from Gravesend & Northfleet in 2001.
Bullard will be looking to provide the bullets for Roberts and Camara alongside Francis and Republic of Ireland international midfielder Alan Mahon.
Though Wigan compacted the game against Chelsea as much as they could, Jewell still fielded two strikers and it will be interesting to see if the Latics boss sticks with that system at The Valley.
If he elects to play with one up front, it will make for a crowded midfield as Curbishley is likely to stick with his lone striker system despite being on home soil.
If the Addicks had suffered a defeat at Sunderland last weekend using that system then the pressure would have been on to revert back to 4-4-2 at home against a newly-promoted side.
But the response to Saturday's 3-1 victory has been so positive and the Charlton chief will be loathe to mess with what looked a winning formula.
Possible line up
In terms of team news little has changed, as although Matt Holland picked up an injury playing for the Republic of Ireland in midweek, he didn't feature at the Stadium of Light last weekend.That could mean that the sole change is the promotion of Jerome Thomas to the starting XI in the absence of the suspended Ambrose. Thomas would probably have been pressing for inclusion anyway following a host of tricks against the Black Cats, but a goal for Denmark against England won't have lessened Dennis Rommedahl's confidence at all on the other flank.
In recent seasons the Addicks haven't always delivered when expectations are high and the onus is on them to get a result, however, and this weekend's game is certainly one of those occasions.
The current Charlton side has an unmistakable freshness about it though, and it could be that those baffling afternoons of woe when the Valley men have failed to shine against perceivably weaker sides will become a thing of the past.
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