Charlton Athletic v Hull City | Sun 9th May | 12noon | Match Preview, Predictions, News & Views

Charlton Athletic v Hull City
Sunday 9th May 2021 ... 12noon Kick-Off
Referee: Martin Coy

Once again we have the strange occurance of having a referee for both home and away fixtures this season. Martin Coy was the man in charge at the KC Stadium for Hull's 2-0 victory over Charlton earlier this year, and the man who sent off Darren Pratley... That game earned Coy a statbank ranking of: 3.86, the fourth lowest rating of the season.

Introduction
492 games played... 1,339 goals scored... Teams have travelled the bredth of the country, from Plymouth in the far South, to Sunderland in the far North. For much of the Division, the important proceedings have been decided, automatic promotion has been decided, champagne has been drank, down the bottom relegation too is done and dusted, tears have been shed - It would be boring though if League One had been completely decided before the final day, three teams are left fighting for one spot in the Play-Offs... time to see just which of those has the stomach for it.

The Opposition
Name: Hull City (Champions) | Manager: Grant McCann
Ground: KC Stadium
Previous Meeting: Hull City 2-0 Charlton Athletic

A bit like my preview against Peterborough I feel the need to eat a small slice of humble pie... A few times this season I've questioned if Grant McCann had the confidence in himself to be able to achieve promotion, he'd tried for five years and failed each time, both at Peterborough and Doncaster Rovers - On this occasion he's not just achieved promotion, yet also the league title. So Grant certainly deserves the plaudits for keeping his Hull side together after relegation, and having the ability to bounce back at the first opportunity, as we've seen in the past at this level its not an easy achievement, especially when you consider the potential issues Hull had to deal with in terms of their own Egyptian ownership.

For the Addicks this Sunday it doesnt just end what has been a difficult season, but what'll also be a difficult week... We ourselves have had the third best away record in the Division, yet we'll be ending our home campaign against the two teams directly above us in that particular form table, so before we even begin to worry about the tasks for Accrington and Burton, we must first worry about our own challenge here in South East London.

Hull themselves visit the Valley on Sunday afternoon with two players from the team of the season: Callum Elder (Left-Back) and George Honeymoon in Midfield the two players to watch out for in that respect... The Tigers form though is similar to that of Sunderland when we went North, they've not lost now for fourteen games, their last defeat on the road was a further five games back, a 1-0 loss at Burton Albion at the start of February.

As I said before Sunderland, runs always have to come to an end eventually, at least I hope.

Charlton Team News
After a few weeks of having no injuries, normality appears to be returning at Sparrows Lane; Diallang Jaiyesimi has been absent since departing against Peterborough United and with no news it will be surprising if we see him again this season... Jake Forster-Caskey joins him after it was confirmed that he had suffered a second ACL since joining Charlton, its certainly a bitter end to the year for someone who'll surely end up as Player of the Year.

Elsewhere though and it looks like we still have a plethora of players to choose from... No doubt everyone will be wanting to see Chuks Aneke from the start this Sunday afternoon, especially after linking with Jayden Stockley so well against Lincoln City. Nigel Adkins advised though that the decision will ultimately rest with the medical team, yet of course may well choose to gamble, after all there is no point holding your best players back when you need nothing sort of three points.

In midfield you'd surely expect Albie Morgan to come in, in place of the injured Forster-Caskey


Prediction
I stopped predicting Charlton results a few seasons ago, partly because I never like to bet against the Addicks. Yet on this occasion it'll take an even braver man to predict not just what'll happen at the Valley but at Fratton Park and the Kassam Stadium too... Nottingham Forest showed last season how a six goal swing can steal you dreams and leave them trampled in the dust. Charlton last season had to deal with the blow of two teams getting unexpected results, a bit of redemption from that depressing July evening will be nice way to extend our season, even if just for two more games.

Echoing @Sage's comments from Tuesday night I would (see what I did there) like to thank everyone for continuing to put up with my jabbering for yet another season, I think you have to go back to 2014 to find my first gibberish preview... Hopefully this wont be my last of the season, if it is then myself and Sage will no doubt be back for 2021/22... Have a great summer.