Blades are sharp

Thousands of Addicks will be making the trek up to Sheffield for the FA Cup tie on Sunday. Some are there already and others will arrive later today. The prospect of a Wembley final has aroused the passion and excitement of Addicks fans around the world. Earlier FA Cup runs are reviewed on the CAS Trust site here: Cup runs .

However, before the dream of a Wembley semi-final is achieved, there is the far from small matter of beating Sheffield United. I think this is a far bigger challenge than beating Sheffield Wednesday. It is too easy to fall into the trap of believing the propaganda emanating from Hillsborough and assuming that there is a massive team in Sheffield and a pub team. The odds reflect the nature of the challenge: Sheffield United, 5/4; draw, 12/5; Charlton 21/10. Charlton are 150-1 to win the cup.

After a poor start to the season, the Blades have become very sharp, confirmed by a 2-0 midweek win over Peterborough when reportedly they rested some players in preparation for the cup tie. Even before the midweek win, they were third in the League 1 form table. Charlton were third from bottom in the Championship form table. In other words, the gap is a very small one and the Blades have home advantage. For manager Nigel Clough the Cup is now more important than the league: Clough . For his part, Chris Powell is a FA Cup romantic but is uncertain whether Roland is in remarks which suggest some tensions between the manager and the owner: Powell

Church, Cousins and Morrison all have injury problems (although the latest news is that they may all pass fitness tests) and the Daily Telegraph thinks that we might opt for a 4-3-2-1 led by Valley hero Marvin Sordell: Line Up

It's very easy to say that a game could go one of three ways, but it is one of those games. My guess would be that the most likely outcome is a draw which would add to our fixture congestion as we struggle to survive in the Championship.