Palace v Charlton Athletic

Selhurst Park, Saturday 3.00pm

Story so far

Would the owner of a caravan, registration number P1 KEY, please remove it from the car park.

It's that time again, the pikeys are back in SE25.

Since our relegation, Charlton's appointment of Dowie and the court case, there has been a huge debate on whether or not Charlton are actually rivals.

What's the answer? To some they are, others they are not. Personally, I would like to see us get one over on them early on this season. Do I just consider them the irritating rash that I once used to? No, they are a bit more than that now - what with Jordan, Varney and Murray going at each other and that fateful day at the Valley. But would I call them rivals? No, not really - just a slightly more itchy rash.

So what's happened with our former tenants? Well, they managed to rob Spurs of 16.5 million quid for Bent and spend a good few million of that on one or two strikers. It seems that everyone has been reading the Neil Warnock book of transfers - how many strikers does a team need to get promoted these days?

Other than that, not much has happened. As soon as the game is over, we can all get back to laughing at that little club from down the road. Failing that, closing our eyes and hoping that rash will go away.

Team news

New Palace signing Besian Idrizaj could be handed a start in attack after joining on a 12 month loan deal from Liverpool.

Midfielders Jeff Hughes and Carl Fletcher will also be in contention after returning from injury at Ipswich last weekend.

However, Paul Ifill (hamstring), Dave Martin (calf) and Ben Watson (ankle) are all likely to be sidelined.

New Charlton defender Danny Mills could start but Ben Thatcher has a knee ligament problem and is doubtful.

Madjid Bougherra is hopeful of shaking off a minor leg injury to play.

Quotes

"Whenever it's a local derby, players are desperate to win it for their supporters," said Taylor.

"I don't think the players will need me reminding them that it's a local derby.

"Whilst there are no more points on offer, the local element is what seems to make it more important but it's a big game and it does seem more to win a local derby.

"It should be a good game and I'm looking forward to it."

Peter Varney - Chief Executive: "This will doubtless be fuelled by further foul-mouthed personal attacks on our board of directors that eager tabloid sports editors will be only too keen to give maximum exposure.

"But those of us involved at a senior level in the game have a responsibility to ensure we say or do nothing to cause problems for the police and other agencies by inciting trouble off the pitch."

He added: "During the summer, there was plenty of publicity when Iain Dowie lost his High Court action against Palace, but very little, if indeed any, reporting of the fact that Palace were ordered to reimburse our legal costs.

"You can be certain that football's governing bodies will be nowhere to be seen when these stories appear, and yet, as a club, we are determined not to respond and inflame the situation.

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Charlton Athletic - league stats

Position	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points
12th	3	1	1	1	4

Full league table

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Charlton Athletic - current form

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against
3	1	1	1	5	5

Full form table

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Our home record v Charlton Athletic

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against
29	19	5	5	49	22

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Last five results

Date	Type	Home Team	Score	Away Team
15/05/2005	League	Charlton Athletic	2 - 2	Crystal Palace
05/12/2004	League	Crystal Palace	0 - 1	Charlton Athletic
27/10/2004	League Cup	Charlton Athletic	1 - 2	Crystal Palace
25/03/2000	League	Crystal Palace	0 - 1	Charlton Athletic
26/12/1999	League	Charlton Athletic	2 - 1	Crystal Palace

All time results

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One to watch

Andy Reid

Andy Reid has had a fantastic start to his Championship career. He's knocked in 3 goals in 4 appearances and is terrorising defences with his runs down the left wing.

Reid has a sweet left foot, possesses a fantastic range of passing and has an eye for goal.

Ref watch

N S Miller

Last meeting

Charlton Athletic 2-2 Palace

Sunday May 15 2005

Charlton Athletic: Kiely, Young, El Karkouri, Fortune, Konchesky, Kishishev, Johansson, Holland (Thomas, 67), Murphy (Sam, 76), Hughes, Bartlett (Rommedahl, 79)

Subs not used: Perry, Andersen

Bookings: Fortune, Konchesky

Goals: Hughes 30, Fortune 82

Palace: Kiraly, Butterfield (Freedman, 56 ), Hall, Popovic, Granville, Leigertwood, Soares (Powell, 86), Watson (Riihilahti, 89), Hughes, Routledge, Johnson

Subs not used: Speroni, Ventola

Bookings: Johnson, Soares

Goals: Freedman 58, Johnson 71 (pen)

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