Charlton Athletic v Watford
The Valley, Saturday 3:00 kick off
After the opening month of the season these two clubs were amongst the earlier pace setters both currently occupying a top 6 spot. It has the makings of a very entertaining game.
The Addicks are arguably the surprise package of the Championship so far with 2 wins, 3 draws and just a single defeat at promotion chasing Derby. An impressive start for new boss Bob Peeters in his first job in English football and quite a change for Charlton who have had to deal with battling relegation and being at the wrong end of the table for the last couple of seasons. A major difference to previous campaigns is the rate at which Charlton are finding the net, 9 goals from the opening 5 league games. 5 of these goals have been scored by new striker Igor Vetokele who has hit the ground running in the Championship. The former FC Copenhagen frontman picked up the Championship Player of the Month award and he is this game’s key man.
Football really does continue to surprise and shock week after week. After the 4-2 win over Huddersfield Beppe Sannino resigned from his post as head coach saying “[he had] gone as far as I can” at the club. His replacement, former Brighton boss Oscar Garcia, is walking into a new job with a team tgat sit 2nd in the table and just a single point behind leaders Nottingham Forest. He also has a squad built to push for promotion and under his stewardship will have every hope of earning promotion to the Premier League if the players can apply his methods on a regular basis. Striker Troy Deeney has committed his future to the club with a new 4 year deal and has rekindled his former partnership with Matej Vydra with ease. As Forest play on Sunday a win for the Hornets could see them at least temporarily top of the table, but it will be no easy task seeing of this revitalised Charlton side.
Score prediction: 2-0 Charlton win
