It’s that time again… the football season starts up again on Saturday, and after three months of waiting, fans will flock to the Valley to see a new-look Charlton side face recently-relegated QPR. The summer’s transfer dealings have installed some hope into the fans about a positive season for Guy Luzon’s team. However, the reds face a tough start in August with games against Derby, Forest, Hull and Wolves and this game will not be easy.
Joseph Eves previews Saturday’s opening game…
CHARLTON
As mentioned earlier, it has been a good summer overall for the Addicks, with the main features being the seven new signings (so far…) of Patrick Bauer, El-Hadji Ba, Simon Makienok, Ahmed Kashi, Cristian Ceballos, Zakarya Bergdich and Naby Sarr who have all come with a decent reputation and good pedigree and seem hungry to impress Guy Luzon and the fans alike.
Crucially, Johann Berg Gudmundsson and Jordan Cousins signed new four year contracts and for some fans, this was the best news of the summer.
Contrastingly, the one negative was the sale of Joe Gomez to Liverpool for an ‘undisclosed fee’, a good move for the youngster as he looks set to go straight into the first-team squad for Saturday’s game against Stoke, a positive from the deal was that Charlton were believed to have received a fair deal for the 18 year old and this has been reinvested back into strengthening the squad.
There is no doubt that it will be a tough game for Charlton, but the Addicks will feel confident about obtaining a positive result from the match.
QPR
Following relegation from the Premier League last season, Chris Ramsey’s side from west London are one of the favourites for promotion back to the Promised Land. The hoops’ headline signings of Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Jamie Mackie and Massimo Luongo have certainly added Championship experience and stability to a club which has become a little bit of a yo-yo team over recent years.
Reasonably inexperienced boss Ramsey has had his critics but desires to play an attacking style of football and has had the opportunity to build his own squad. There have been some high-profile departures from Loftus Road including Joey Barton, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Rio Ferdinand, Richard Dunne and Bobby Zamora and there has been strong speculation surrounding star striker Charlie Austin, but for the moment, he is staying put and this will definitely boost the club going into the new season.
Match Odds (SKYBET)
Charlton- 15/8
QPR- 6/4
Draw- 9/4
By Joseph Eves – @joeeves99
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