MATCH PREVIEW | Crewe Alexandra v Charlton

Charlton's league season gets under way with a trip to the Alexandra Stadium to take on Crewe Alexandra on Saturday afternoon (3pm).

With a pair of competitive cup ties already under their belt, Lee Bowyer's men will be looking to build on last weekend's encouraging performance over Swindon Town which yielded a 3-1 victory.

The Railway Men's first competitive match of the season saw them lose 2-1 at home to Lincoln City in the Carabao Cup, followed by a 3-2 victory at Bolton Wanderers in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday evening.

2019/20 is their first season back in the third tier since suffering relegation in 2016 winning promotion via second place in last season's ill-fated League Two campaign.

Bowyer has no fresh injury concerns going into the weekend and will have Jonny Williams and new arrival Conor Washington back available after returning from international duty.

Jason Pearce remains sidelined with a knee injury and Bowyer may opt to keep 17-year-old Charlie Barker in his starting lineup with the youngster impressing in his first two outings.

Charlton boss Lee Bowyer: "Saturday’s game is two teams who have just come into the division. They are a nice side to watch, they move the ball well and play good football so it won’t be easy.

"Nothing changes. I do believe that if things go the right way for us, we will get stronger and stronger and grow. I’ll always push them, same as I always have."

Crewe boss David Artell: “It is a condensed season and we will be playing a lot of Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday games as we go, so I will be using virtually everyone at some point. I am sure that will happen.

“That might be Saturday against Charlton, Hull away or Sunderland away a few weeks later but the players need to be ready. They have to train well every day because they will not know when that call will come."

Charlton and Crewe have only ever met on four previous occasions with the Addicks winning all four.

A 3-2 home victory in November 1997 was followed by a 3-0 win at Gresty Road in March 1998. Two seasons later was the last time the sides faced off. Graham Stuart and Martin Prignle scored the goals in a 2-0 win away in November 1999 and Stuart scored again as the Addicks won 1-0 in January 2000.

Graham Salisbury will take charge of Saturday's match at the Alexandra Stadium. Last season saw him referee 28 matches, producing 88 yellow cards and three reds.

He last officiated the Addicks in a 3-2 victory over Wycombe Wanderers at The Valley in September 2018.

The match at The Alexandra Stadium is being played behind closed doors and supporters are reminded to maintain social distancing guidelines and to stay away from the stadium when the match is taking place.

Supporters can follow all the build-up to the game on Charlton's official Instagram account, official Twitter account and Facebook page as usual.

Supporters will be able to watch Charlton league games this season live on Valley Pass. All league games, except those selected for UK or international broadcast, will be available to purchase with a match pass which costs £10 in the UK and Ireland and £7 internationally – pricing is set by the EFL.

Supporters living abroad can purchase a season live video pass for £140, which will give them access to every game the club is allowed to stream internationally during the 2020/21 season.

Supporters who are yet to purchase a pass for Saturday's game can do so here.

Meanwhile, live audio commentary of the game from Terry Smith and Greg Stubley will be available to Valley Pass subscribers in all countries as usual.

Click here for more information on streaming Saturday's game.

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