MATCH PREVIEW: West Ham United vs. Charlton Athletic - Saturday 22nd August - 3pm Kick-off
West Ham United vs. Charlton Athletic
Saturday 22nd August - 3pm Kick-off
Referee: Andrew Kitchen
Introduction
Charlton kick started their start to the 2026/27 season in fine fashion last weekend, Derby the visitors to the Valley took the lead midway through the first half, and given previous seasons you'd have expected Charlton heads to drop - Instead they rallied, and whilst the performance was nothing to shout about, it was an impressive and ultimately deserved 2-1 victory, and get a vital win to settle any early season nerves ahead of perhaps what is the toughest away game this coming season.
The Opposition
Name: West Ham United (10th) - Manager: Nuno Espírito Santo
Ground: The London Stadium
Previous Result: Burnley 2-2 West Ham
Thie Saturday will see the Addicks making the short trip through the Blackwall Tunnel with newly relegated: West Ham awaiting our arrival in what'll be a tasty London Derby, this'll be our second visit to the London Stadium having face the Hammers in a League Cup tie back in 2020, losing 3-0 on that particular occasion. Of course Charlton fans will have memories of making regular trips to East London, what with the now demolished Boelyn Ground our home, away from home, for a short period in 1991/92.
Sadly you have to go back to 2007 to find a fixture between these sides, West Ham coming from behind to win 3-1 on the opening day of the forgettable 2006/07 season, which saw Djimi Traore sent off on his debut - The fortunes of Charlton Athletic haven't been the best since that day, for West Ham its been 20-years of mixed emotions. The Hammers after all were relegated themselves from the Premier League in 2011 (spending just a year in the second tier), whilst it seems that winning the UEFA Conference League under David Moyes in 2023 wasn't good enough for the East Londoners... Its been a downward spiral ever since, with the club relegated on the final day of the season last campaign.
In terms of players and the hosts have an eye watering list of options to call upon; England International: Jarred Bowen is the standout man, having surprised everyone (except for the Dyer Family) by signing a new Contract in the summer, whilst West Ham have recently brought in Arne Engels for an eye watering £22m, along with Joel Piroe from Leeds... the Surniame Striker was top scorer at this level two years ago, scoring 19-goals and firing Leeds to the Championship title back in 2026.
Looking at the head2head record, and Charlton have 14-League wins compared to West Ham's 8-wins, our last victory in their corner of East London came in a 2-0 victory back in 2002, goals coming from Claus Jensen and Jonathan Fortune... A repeat of that score line this coming weekend would be a great statement from the Addicks.
Charlton Team News
Perhaps there was little surprise when Thomas Kaminski was excluded from the matchday squad ahead of the clash with Derby last weekend, it certainly made more sense given Nathan Jones' comments post match, and there is even less surprise to see the Addicks dip into the transfer market with Goalkeeper: Arthur Okonkwu joining on loan from Wrexham, you'd expect the Nigerian International to now step into the starting eleven, regardless of the lateness of the transfer this week, with Will Mannion now acting as backup.
Elsewhere and can you really expect many more changes? - We've certainly see a bit of variety in terms of line up from Charlton this pre-season, and given the challenge facing us this weekend, could we see Charlton operating with a back five to combat the attacking threat that West Ham will surely provide? - Or will we be brave and daring, and let West Ham worry about us, just as much as we should worry about them...?
Okonkwu
McNamara - Jones - Koumetio - Bell
Coventry - Chalobah
Carey
Grant - Godden - Campbell
Substitutes: Mannion - Mesik - Sichenje - Costello - Docherty - Mwamba - Knibbs - Leaburn - Alli
Comments
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It could be chaos but I really want NJ to stick to his guns and play the 4231 rather than going to the 352. TC has the pace to cause them problems on the counter if he has support11
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Just dont sit back waiting for them to score ,give it a go ,you never know !6
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A score draw.
4 -
COYR1
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For once, I agree with FA's team. I think it will be the same outfield 10 plus Okonkwo in goal.
This feels like it might be a bit of a free hit. I think West Ham will be good this year. I think Nuno is a decent coach at the level. But they're still very much in transition and probably still on a bit of a downer coming off their relegation. Anything we get there will make me happy. Would love to beat them, but will be very content with a draw.
I could see us starting the same way we did last season--win, draw. I don't know about 0-0, I think this side will score and concede more goals than last year's did. I could see it being a 1-1.
Properly up for this season with the confirmed and rumored transfer business. Maybe, just maybe, TC celebrates a new contract with a goal. Maybe JRS comes on and scores the winner. Who can say?
I think this season will be more fun than last year. I think we have a lot more squad depth and we've added a bit of quality all around.2 -
Probably reading way too much into it, but from the Jones quotes on Cawley’s Substack today I get the impression 352 is a distinct possibility.fenaddick said:It could be chaos but I really want NJ to stick to his guns and play the 4231 rather than going to the 352. TC has the pace to cause them problems on the counter if he has support2 -
Sorry you lost me at ‘free hit’, what else did you write?SDAddick said:For once, I agree with FA's team. I think it will be the same outfield 10 plus Okonkwo in goal.
This feels like it might be a bit of a free hit. I think West Ham will be good this year. I think Nuno is a decent coach at the level. But they're still very much in transition and probably still on a bit of a downer coming off their relegation. Anything we get there will make me happy. Would love to beat them, but will be very content with a draw.
I could see us starting the same way we did last season--win, draw. I don't know about 0-0, I think this side will score and concede more goals than last year's did. I could see it being a 1-1.
Properly up for this season with the confirmed and rumored transfer business. Maybe, just maybe, TC celebrates a new contract with a goal. Maybe JRS comes on and scores the winner. Who can say?
I think this season will be more fun than last year. I think we have a lot more squad depth and we've added a bit of quality all around.5 -
Sort of game where my Charlton either cause an upset and get an NJ special 0-1,
OR lead for 30 minutes, lose a good player for the season injured, then get a player unecessarily red carded and leak three late goals making them look like World Cup winners...oh!
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Given West Ham’s opener was against Burnley, a team that was relegated from the PL with them and the hammers haven’t played in this division for a relatively long time, their game against us will be their welcome to the championship match. I suspect the chaps in claret and blue will settle for the draw. 2-2
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Excited for this already. This is the sort of game where we normally ruin a few betting slips !
2-1 unexpected 3 points
Grant & Leaburn with the goals0 -
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It's crazy but unsurprising how much of a draw we are nowadays -letthegoodtimesroll said:
"Here for the Charlton! You are only here for the Charlton!"20 -
Bowen vs bell worries me.
on the positive side, they do have some youngsters/inexperience in there
Get an early goal and things could get tetchy for them (crowd booing etc)
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Will take a draw. We can certainly nick one through pure grit.
1-1 ( Godden)1 -
I was thinking back to our last League fixture at their place, 20 years ago. Almost identical - their first home match of the season & only a couple of days difference (in 2006 it was 19th Aug - this year it will be the 22nd).
Sadly I think the result will be the same.
3-1 to the bastards in Claret & Blue.0 -
2-4 a match to savour COYA0
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Start Leaburn over Godden.11
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Far too much optimism so far! We’ll get thumped 3-0 and a red card for the ex Millwall boy. (We’ll then bounce back and beat Spurs on penalties.)4
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fenaddick said:It could be chaos but I really want NJ to stick to his guns and play the 4231 rather than going to the 352. TC has the pace to cause them problems on the counter if he has supportI wasn't sure who the back line would be if we went 3-5-2 at this point thoughSo played it safe with my line-up rather than go a bit wildJones - Koumetio - Bell maybe, but then Jones usually plays in the middle so you'd be looking at Sichenje or Burke at RCB, whilst you might as well put a timer on Bell's hamstrings going if he's played LWB, unless thats the game for Mesik.I think if Ramsay was fit, then there would be more chance we'd see it1
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Unfortunately can only see us getting pumped 4 or 5 in this one, more for the fact West Ham will be up for it first home game, Bowen and their new 22mil signing etc, rather than our limitations.
Still it’s the sort of games we’ve been wanting to see for a few seasons and looking forward to it.
Any pubs in particular meeting pre match? pretty sure there’s no away pubs in Stratford1 -
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exactly what I was thinking, would rather see Mesik at LB2121 said:Bowen vs bell worries me.
on the positive side, they do have some youngsters/inexperience in there
Get an early goal and things could get tetchy for them (crowd booing etc)
take a 1-1 now,,,,Grant with our goal4 -
1-1 with McNamara fighting them on and off the pitch6
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apparently west ham sold out every home league game last season
miracle required to get anything from this but let's save that miracle for the zampa road scum
thankfully playing cricket so wont have to go to this very close fixture to me but with public transport and queuing it's a wank journey and a guaranteed cnutfest of a crowd
good luck to all Addicks going in part one of our 2 north of the river clashes and a proper wankfest for the oooooh a new ground freak show3 -
Wow fella, do you need a visit to pornhub?😂oohaahmortimer said:apparently west ham sold out every home league game last season
miracle required to get anything from this but let's save that miracle for the zampa road scum
thankfully playing cricket so wont have to go to this very close fixture to me but with public transport and queuing it's a wank journey and a guaranteed cnutfest of a crowd
good luck to all Addicks going in part one of our 2 north of the river clashes and a proper wankfest for the oooooh a new ground freak show2 -
Feeling quietly optimistic. Backs to the wall 0-1, Grant getting the goal1
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Agree with what Louis was saying on the Pod. Keep it 0-0 for a bit and watch their fans really got on the players backs, make it toxic for the home team and make them play our game. Could see us knicking a 0-1 here. COYR3
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Echo earlier comments, worried about Bowen vs Bell. Would be a risk of course, but I'd be tempted to stick Mesik in there.5
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I work with a couple of fanatical, season ticket holding West Ham fans. (Incidentally both wanted Moyes sacked as the football was too boring!)
They are both convinced West Ham will walk the league this season and don't seem to realise there are some good teams and players in this league.
I hope Saturday will be a good opportunity for someone ie us to go there and bring them back to reality. And I really think if West Ham take us for granted that could happen.
Hope all those going do us proud and enjoy yhe day.8 -
It will be a tough experience for us, but also for them, we're very much an unknown quantity to them, and I feel we will give as much as we receive...
So, I am going for a tight game from the off, with a close 0-1 scoreline, and why not...1 -
Okonkwu
McNamara, Sichenje, Jones, Koumetio , Bell
Carey, Coventry, Chalobah, Campbell
Grant .0
