Charlton Athletic vs Reading: Match Preview
The Royals head to the capital for a tough away match against playoff hopefuls.
After a great start to the year with a win against Cambridge United, the Royals are looking to make it four wins from four in their next match against the Addicks. Away form is starting to improve with Noel Hunt at the wheel and I don’t expect that to change against Charlton.
Charlton are yet to play a game this year, with their fixture against Crawley Town postponed due to a waterlogged pitch on New Year’s Day. With a win, they could get themselves all the way from 11th in the league table to eighth, allowing them to join the race for the playoff spots.
In this preview I will analyse what happened the last time we played Charlton, as well as writing a thank you to Chem Campbell as this could be his final game for the club if there is no extension to his loan, looking at players who have played for both and giving my predictions.
What? League One matchday 24
Season? 2024/25
Who? Charlton Athletic
Where? The Valley
When? Saturday January 4
Time? 15:00
Opposition manager? Nathan Jones
The reverse fixture
Last time out the Royals managed to get the victory over the Addicks, playing one of the best games they had played for a while at the time.
A wonder-goal from Charlie Savage and a wonder assist from Adrian Akande to cross the ball for Sam Smith’s finish saw off Charlton, who themselves missed a couple of really big chances to score.
The Royals had 15 shots in total but only three on target, compared to Charlton’s eight shots, two of which were on target. Savage’s goal was just incredible. He knew from the minute he started running with the ball what he was going to do with it and the shot across the ground into the bottom-left corner was unsaveable for any goalkeeper.
For Akande’s assist, he picked up the ball close to the halfway line and ran at the defenders, beating two to then put the cross on a plate for Smith to score a tap-in to see off the game.
The first half was dominated possession-wise by the Royals, with them having 67% of the ball. This was accompanied by 11 shots just in the first half. None of them were on target but that is still a positive.
Weirdly, not having much of the ball and not having as many shots in the second half was how we created both goals. On the counter Reading looked unstoppable.
Let’s hope that the game goes a similar way in the scoreline. However, with a different manager now, the gameplay itself may be slightly different and I think we have a chance to utterly dominate this game.
Chem Campbell
After starting off slowly, Campbell has really come into his own. He looks like he has been in the squad for years with how well he gets on with the team and he will be a really sad loss if we are unable to extend his loan.
With three goals and two assists in the league, the numbers seem to be on the slightly lower side in his 19 matches played. But what he does for the team outside of the goal contributions is great: the runs he makes and the vision he has to find the pass that breaks down the defence are just a joy to watch.
The game that showed us the difference he makes to the team was the FA Cup match against Harborough Town. With the Royals losing the match, being the second-best team in a game we should have won easily, he then came on, played 60 minutes including extra-time and scored two goals to help the Royals win the game. That was all him. Without him, Reading were losing that game.
It was a similar situation against Burton Albion in October. He hadn’t yet hit his best form but, in a game where Reading weren’t at their best, it was Campbell that got the Royals off the mark with two goals inside the first half, completely against the run of play at the time.
He has the talent to change the outcome of a game by himself and, with the other half of the season at Reading, he could be one of the main reasons we get playoffs this season.
Players who have played for both
There are a whopping 28 players who have played for both Charlton and Reading. Here are a few of them:
Chem Campbell went on loan to Charlton from Wolverhampton Wanderers and played 14 games for the club. In this time he scored two goals and got two assists.
The current Royals player, as said earlier, has three goals and two assists in 19 League One games for the club. Hopefully he can increase that stat in what could be his final game for Reading.
Chris Gunter was one of my favourite players growing up, having signed for Reading after promotion to the Premier League in 2012/13. He ended up playing 310 games for the Royals, managing three goals and 15 assists from right-back.
From Reading he then signed for Charlton, where he played 56 games, scoring once and getting three assists.
Yann Kermorgant played 89 games for Charlton between 2011 and 2013. In this time he scored 29 goals and got 11 assists. Here is where it gets cool:
He then moved to Reading in 2015 and, in another two years at the club he played… yep you guessed it, 89 games. He managed 23 goals and nine assists.
‘Journeyman’ Leroy Lita spent four years at Reading in which he played 83 games for the club, scoring 20 goals and getting seven assists.
However, for one of those years he was loaned out to Charlton, where he made a whopping eight appearances, scoring three times and getting no assists.
Fun fact: Reading and Charlton were his first and second transfer destinations out of the 24 times he has moved clubs, having started at Bristol City.
Finally, Tariqe Fosu came through the youth academy at Reading and made one appearance for the Royals, away at Derby County, failing to score or get an assist.
My lineup
Reading have had quite a few injuries in the last few games so there may be a little bit of a shake-up in the line-up.
Pereira will start in goal. He was man of the match the last time we played Charlton, and I expect him to be busy again this game.
The defence will look similar to the last game with Michael Craig and Amadou Mbengue adding to the long list of injuries/illness that Reading have. Louie Holzman, Harlee Dean, Tyler Bindon and Andre Garcia will be the defence.
The midfield is where it’s at at the moment, with Lewis Wing, Harvey Knibbs and Charlie Savage all getting among the goals recently.
Our attack is also starting to gel a little bit with Smith and Mamadi Camara registering goal contributions in recent games. They will be joined by the man of the preview Campbell to face one of his old clubs.
Score prediction: 2-1 Royals!
Good luck to those going to the game, we’re hoping to carry on our New Year form and are looking to stop Charlton’s party.
Come on you Royals!