Sunderland boss Alex Neil: It’s tough to judge Charlton’s recent form

Alex Neil reckons that it is hard to judge Charlton Athletic’s recent form due to the teams they have faced.

The Addicks host Sunderland today and are looking to halt a run of five successive League One losses.

Sunderland come into the match on the back of an impressive 3-0 away win against second-placed Wigan Athletic at the DW Stadium last weekend.

Sunderland boss Neil said: “It’s going to be a different type of game [to Wigan], they’ve been on a difficult run of late.

“But they have played four of the top five teams, I think, so it’s been a real tough run of fixtures for them.

“They’ve had some injuries. We just want to make sure we go down there, we try and take what we did at Wigan and try and replicate that.

“We’ve got a couple players coming back into contention, so that’s nice. It gives us more competition for places as well, which is good.

“Some of the lads coming back are looking sharper than I thought they would’ve, considering the time they’ve been out.

“That’s pleasing and it only strengthens us between now and the end of the season.”

PICTURE: KYLE ANDREWS