For the first time this season Alan Pardew has a full squad to pick from
Alan Pardew goes back to Charlton with a virtual full squad to pick from, the only omission being Graeme Murty who has another six weeks on the sidelines, however he still has one problem and that is match fitness for at least four players.
All things being equal Alana Pardew would probably have liked to have started with at least three of the four who lack that match practice, Raidi Jaidi is at least cleared to play, but does Pardew through him straight in, I feel that the answer is probably yes on that one, the other three are less clear, Joseph Mills has at least got the best part of 45 minutes under his belt so I would expect him to be in on the left, Lee Holmes can only hope for the bench at best and perhaps even that might be pushing it,whilst the big decision is Papa Waigo.
Certainly many Saints fans would like to see him start, but truth is Marek Saganowski looked good at Stockport and this alongside the fact that Papa has no match fitness, I think means that he will come off the bench.
Charlton for their part have won all six of their opening league games, however there is some encouragement in this, firstly they have to drop points sometime, secondly most of their games have been against sides who are not exactly in form, .
Saints can go to the Valley and get a point and even win, Alan Pardew has now had enough time to build a squad and get them fit, now is the time to start getting results, Saints have been the biggest spenders in the division,they now have perhaps the biggest squad as well as the one with the most quality, its time to prove that, the time for excuses is now over, only results matter.
Confidence now has to be built and built fast, everyone of the players who step out on Saturday have played and are proven at a higher level, several in the Premier league and several at international level, to be blunt they should now be capable of going out and repeating Charlton's six wins in a row the proof is now results.
I will allow Saints one thing and that is the fact that Charlton are obviously now favourites for automatic promotion, with the run they are in a win is tough going, but a draw is the minimum, there are now no excuses for defeat in this division, although Saints havent won a game yet, they are unbeaten in the last three, not a ground breaking run in the context of Charltons, but still a base to built on.