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Preview: Wolverhampton Wanderers vs. Charlton Athletic

Sports Mole looks ahead to Guy Luzon's first match in charge of Charlton Athletic as he takes his side to face Wolves at Molineux.

New Charlton Athletic manager Guy Luzon will take charge of his first match in English football when his side face Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux on Saturday.

The former Standard Liege boss was initially appointed last week, but was only granted his work permit on Thursday and will take training for the first time on Friday.

He was forced to watch from the director's box last Saturday, and what he saw would not have filled him with great confidence.

The Addicks, who were so tough to beat under Bob Peeters in the first half of the season, capitulated against Watford and ultimately fell to a 5-0 defeat at Vicarage Road.

The result made it four defeats in a row for the Addicks, while they are now without a win in 10. Looking solely at league form, they have picked up just four points from the last 27 available and have scored only a solitary goal in their last five outings.

Indeed, they have not found the net in any of their last three league games, and haven't gone four without scoring since May 2005, when in the Premier League.

Such a dreadful spell has unsurprisingly seen them slide down the standings, and they now sit 16th in the table, eight points clear of the bottom three.

On current form, it isn't out of the question that they could be dragged into another relegation scrap, so Luzon will need to hit the ground running and turn things around sooner rather than later.

An away match is not the ideal start for the Israeli boss, with the Addicks having lost their last three on the road, conceding 10 goals in the process.

Stephen Henderson will be absent for the visitors, but January recruits Tony Watt and Milos Veljkovic could feature at some point.

While Charlton are beginning to cast worried glances over their shoulders, Wolves are very much looking back up the table having ended their poor slump in form.

The hosts have picked up 16 of the last 18 points available in the league, conceding just two goals in those six games to get their playoff challenge back on track.

They now sit only one point adrift of the top six and, with two of the three teams directly above them in the table playing each other this weekend, Kenny Jackett's side will have a chance to close the gap.

Wolves are aiming for a fifth straight win in the second tier for the first time since 2008, and with three more teams currently in the bottom half to come in their immediate fixtures after this one, they will fancy their chances of extending that run even further.

Benik Afobe made a perfect start to his Wolves career by scoring against Blackpool last time out as Jackett's side hit two goals in the final five minutes to clinch the points.

Afobe's appearance off the bench may have earned him a start this weekend, although Nouha Dicko will also be hopeful of keeping his place.

Dave Edwards, meanwhile, will be looking to continue his purple patch from midfield having scored four goals in his last three outings.

Wolves:

Form in Championship: WDWWWW
Form in all competitions: WWDWLW

Possible starting lineup: Ikeme; Iorfa, Batth, Stearman, Hause; McDonald, Price, Henry, Edwards, Van La Parra; Afobe

Charlton:

Form in Championship: DLDLLL
Form in all competitions: LDLLLL

Possible starting lineup: Etheridge; Solly, Bikey, Ben Haim, Wiggins; Gudmundsson, Buyens, Jackson, Cousins; Watt; Vetokele

Sports Mole says: 2-0


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David Edwards of Wolves celebrates with team-mates after scoring his team's first goal during the FA Cup third round replay match against Fulham on January 13, 2015
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