Addicks 'perennial strugglers' says Lennon

New Bolton Wanderers manager Neil Lennon has labelled Charlton the 'perennial strugglers' of the Championship, although he admits they have made a good start to this season: Lennon

Lennon comes to The Valley fresh from a 1-0 victory over Birmingham last Saturday which has led to the sacking of their manager Lee Clark.

The absence of Igor Vetokele with an Achilles problem will be a concern for the Addicks.

It will be a return to The Valley for Dorian Dervite whose departure I regretted at the time. On Saturday he was 'brilliant in the air' according to the Football League Paper.

Indeed, with the exception of Jermaine Beckford who 'struggled to make an impact' the whole team seems to have played well. Lonergan in goal made some 'smart saves', while McNaughton was 'solid at the back and caused problems for Birmingham when he went forward.' Matt Mills was 'disciplined in his defensive duties' and Dean Moxey 'made a number of vital blocks.' Skipper Jay Spearing was 'tenacious' and Neil Danns 'shielded his back four brilliantly'. Lee Chung-Yong 'showed off his quick feet and extensive passing repertoire'. Darren Pratley 'put in some teasing crosses'. It isn't going to be easy.

The last meeting ended as a goalless draw at The Valley in April. Bolton have won only one of the last seven meetings in all competitions. Their only win since 2006 was 2-0 at home in December 2012. Charlton are unbeaten in the last four meetings at The Valley in all competitions, winning three. Bolton's last win there was 1-0 in the Premier League in October 2005.

Odds are: Charlton 5/4, Draw 23/10, Bolton 11/5

Trotters in town

Bolton Wanderers are sometimes referred to as the Trotters and sometimes by the much blander term the 'Whites'. For me, the 'Trotters' always evokes the heritage of the club. Anyway, this Bolton fan uses the term in his match preview in which he points out that a win for Wanderers tomorrow will put them two points off a play off place: Trotters

At the beginning of the season I named Bolton as one of my promotion picks. Yet seven weeks ago Bolton had lost four games in seven and were just one place and three points above the relegation zone. Their resurgence since then shows how quickly a team can move upwards or downwards in this tightly packed league.

Palace's Dougie Freedman replaced Owen Coyle as manager last September. Freedman told The Football League Paper, 'I'm very proud of what I did at Palace. I got hold of a club in the bottom three and left them in the top three. And I made the club a lot of money. But, professionally, it was the right decision to come here.' There is certainly a big contrast between operating from a supermarket car park and the Reebok.

Freedman reckons that the team bore pyschological scars as a result of the fortunately not tragic Fabrice Muamba incident, and being relegated on the final day by a late goal at Stoke. He said, 'Remember this is a club that hasn't won regularly for near enough four years. Quite simply, there was no winning mentality. I inherited a lot of very good players who just need a bit of direction in life. For me, it was about changing the culture and convincing them that they're good enough.'

For Charlton Mark Gower will be available tomorrow to add his experience to a midfield that often loses its shape. Leon Cort will face a late fitness test. New loan signings Robert Hall and Danny Butterfield are set to make their debuts for Bolton. For Bolton right back Tyrone Mears (blood infection) remains sidelined along with Republic of Ireland international Keith Andrews (Achilles).

Charlton have won only once against Bolton in six home matches in the last decade. In the first half against Millwall we did play some nice football, in particular passing accurately to Charlton players, but it had no end result. It is difficult to see how we can avoid defeat tomorrow, even though Bolton did lose against Ipswich last time out.

Rescue cat Reg has done his best to stop this story being written as he demands that veteran Hiss of the Match analyst Juneau the Soccer Cat is dropped for a younger male cat. In the hope of bringing us some luck, he will provide the Hiss of the Match tomorrow. The Association of Canine Match Analysts has also announced the imminent arrival of two lucky labradors who will start training as match analysts: Henry from Chilton, Oxon and Mustang from Compton, Berks.

Au revoir to points against Bolton

I think that the Blackheath Addick has done an excellent review of the relegation 'threat': Relegation? The only downside is that his charming partner Suzanne is coming from France for the Bolton match so we can say 'au revoir' to any points from that game, although I already had it down as a loss on CAFC Picks. My forecast for the season was 57 points and that is still readily achievable which would see us safe in a lower mid-table position which is what I always expected given the quality of the squad and the funds available to some other clubs.

I will do some analysis of my own later in the week, but for now need to earn some more money to pay for the season ticket renewal. Not unreasonably, the Italians want some work completed well before the end of Holy Week.

Lennie Lawrence in charge at Palace

Lennie Lawrence is in temporary charge of Crystal Palace after Dougie Freedman left for Bolton Wanderers. Freedman is desperate for Premier League football and, reasonably enough, thinks there is a better chance of securing that with Bolton. However, the failure to renew his contract suggests that the Palace owners did not think he was the long-term solution anyway: Freedman

The search for a replacement is already under way. How long before some journo mentions Alan Curbishley?