Prediction time: Who starts for Charlton Athletic in Championship opener against Watford?

Transfer activity and injuries make it trickier to assess Nathan Jones' first XI for visit of Hornets

First of all a disclaimer - this predicted Charlton Athletic starting line-up for Saturday’s Championship opener is very likely to be incorrect.

Yeah, that’s right, excuses from the off.

I’ve had the benefit of being at all five of the club’s domestic friendlies - as well as watching their match out in Slovenia on a stream - and yet nailing down the 11 that will take to the pitch this weekend is decidedly tricky.

Nathan Jones will be very happy about that uncertainty, because it also makes it extremely difficult for the Hornets, who would have had at least one scout in attendance at Saturday’s 3-0 win over National League outfit Southend United, to work out exactly how their south London opponents will shape up.

Pre-season is all about getting the match sharpness back - although Charlton had less time to lose it than any other Championship side due to the fact their League One play-off campaign did not finish until the end of May - as well as bedding in the transfer window recruits.

There are five players that I’m very confident will be starters when the teamsheet is submitted at The Valley. I could, if you forcibly twisted one of my arms behind my back, probably push that to six.

So what do we know?

It seems safe to assume that Charlton will persist with three centre-backs, considering they have done that for every friendly so far and most of their last League One season.

It is the wing-backs who have tended to provide the width with two or three attackers, normally positioned fairly narrow, sometimes interchanging to take on main striker responsibilities - it’s almost been a 3-4-2-1. Nobody is going to grumble if someone calls it a 3-4-3 set-up either.

Just to be clear, this is only my expected line-up for the Championship curtain-raiser. After the splurge of transfer activity, it is going to take time for nine new signings to adjust to their surroundings as well as factoring in varying levels of fitness.

Here we go…..prediction time!

---

GOALKEEPER

THOMAS KAMINSKI

Okay, so this one looks to be a simple tap-in, hopefully Charlton Athletic’s new number one is not facing too many of those in the Championship season.