Lee Bowyer and his Charlton Athletic team welcome Portsmouth to The Valley this weekend in what is a big game up near the top of the table.

The Addicks are currently sixth in League One after beating MK Dons 1-0 earlier this week, whilst Portsmouth have dropped from third to fifth in the space of six days having lost heavily to Hull on Saturday and then Lincoln on Tuesday.

Both, though, remain firm contenders for the play-off places and that's why Lee Bowyer's latest update on team news and fitness will be of importance going into the game on Saturday.

As quoted by the club's official website, it sounds like it's a bit of a mixed bag:

“Conor [Washington] is going to go for a scan today. Obviously, we won’t know anything regarding him until later on.”

“Ian [Maatsen] is fine, he’ll train today. It was more of a rest thing for him. He’s a young lad, he’s come in and played a lot of games. I just felt like it was catching up with him before he got injured.”

“Akin [Famewo,] he might be training today with the group. We’ve just had a meeting, so we’ll see how he goes. It might be a bit too early for the weekend, so we’ll see how he goes today.

“If we do get him back involved for the weekend then that is shaving a week or two weeks off what the original timeframe was. If he isn’t quite right then we won’t rush him, we’ve waited this long, so we won’t rush him back. It has to be right and then we want him to come in and then stay fit, that’s the most important thing.”

The Verdict

Both sides will fancy their chances here.

Charlton won the reverse fixture earlier this season at Fratton Park during their fine run of wins and clean sheets but they are looking a little more open defensively at the moment.

Portsmouth, meanwhile, need to bounce back after two significant setbacks against teams around them in the last few days and so it should be a clash that is keenly-fought and close-run.

It's obvious how important this game is for both, then, and it remains to be seen who emerges victorious,