Crystal Palace v Charlton Betting Preview

If Charlton's three previous London derbies are anything to go by, Sunday's live match against Crystal Palace should have a few goals. So far the Addicks have conceded four against Arsenal and Chelsea, and won 3-2 at White Hart Lane. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> That victory over Spurs was in fact the only time Charlton have won an away game this season, and even that was against a team in disarray at the time with Jacques Santini resigning his position in the build-up. The two sides have already met this season in the Carling Cup, a match that was won by Palace. Interestingly Iain Dowie chose to rest the majority of his first team for that particular match, while Curbishley went with his first team players. What made that victory all the more impressive was Palace were forced to play a man down for the remaining twenty minutes. In charge of Sunday's live match will be Matt Messias, who on average shows 3.5 yellow cards per Premiership game. The York official is yet to dismiss a player this season, and in fact only showed red twice in the whole of last season. It is the reluctance of Messias to give players their marching orders which puts me off any recommendation involving the bookings market. This is not to say an opportunity may arise for in-running spreads players should the quote fall to a low enough level and the nature of the game warrant such an action. As for a pre-game bet, it is hard to ignore the credentials of Andy Johnson, scorer of nine league goals already this season. Going up against a Charlton defence that has conceded six times in the last two outings, the second top scorer in the league will be confident of hitting double figures for the season. Over half of the goals scored by Johnson this season have been the first of the game, and so Blue Sqs 5/1 on offer looks well worth taking.