Charlton Athletic have slight injury doubt over attacker for Fulham derby – and labels defender’s absence ‘mind-boggling’
BY RICHARD CAWLEY
richard@slpmedia.co.uk
Lee Bowyer has revealed that Chuks Aneke is a slight injury doubt for Saturday’s derby at Fulham.
The Addicks will be without Lyle Taylor, Tomer Hemed and Beram Kayal for the trip to Craven Cottage.
And Ben Purrington came off in last night’s 2-1 loss to Swansea City with a groin issue.
Bowyer was waiting for an update from the physio when the South London Press caught up with him but said: “I’m guessing Ben is out. He came off with something wrong with his groin.
“Chuks tweaked his groin a bit but that might just have been a bit of tightness, so I’m guessing he’ll be okay.
“Apart from that everyone else is alright [who were involved in the Swansea match].”
If Purrington does not recover in time then it leaves Charlton without a senior fit left-back. Lewis Page has not played first-team football for 12 months due to injury issues.
“We’ve got Deji [Oshilaja], he can slot across,” said Bowyer. “Chris Solly has played there a lot last year when Pagey was out. We have got some options. Adam Matthews has played there in the past for Sunderland.”
Page had been out with a groin injury last season. He signed a new contract in the 2018-19 campaign that runs until this summer. There is a clause to trigger an extra 12 months but it is activated by playing a high proportion of Charlton matches.
“Nothing has changed on my side – I’ve told the physio to tell me when he’s back training,” said Bowyer. “I know he is out of the boot now, I saw him a couple of days ago.
“It is a conversation I’m going to have to have with the physio, because he signed a contract a year ago and he hasn’t played since. It’s not good.
“He is not going to hit that target [to trigger his contract clause]. It is his Achilles. He was out with a hamstring in pre-season and was meant to be out for two weeks – the same as Chuks, they both did it in the same game [at Gillingham]. Chuks came back and Pagey hasn’t been back since. It’s mind-boggling. I don’t get it.”
PICTURES BY KEITH GILLARD AND PAUL EDWARDS
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I felt the game lacked a Jonny Williams type of player until he came on, there were very few shots on goal and even fewer on target. Lets hope he plays the full 90 minutes against Fulham on Saturday.
Up to the 90 minute mark, we had just one shot on target, then another two shots on target in extra time. Not good enough when the opposition had scored two goals ! We are very thin up front with not enough back up when our front runners are injured. Williams can change the game as he did at Wembley, it’s no good trying to protect the player he must be in the game for much longer periods. If he can’t last 90 minutes, put him on at the start of the game and sub him later on if necessary. It’s no good playing catch up in the Championship.