Addicks to put a nail into The Hammers

72 hours after the return of 2020/2021 football season, 12 Premier League clubs enter the 2nd round of the Carabao Cup competition. With the hectic schedule facing football clubs, this season, the Carabao Cup will not appear significantly on many of the clubs’ radars for the upcoming season, and success in the 2nd round will lead to a quick turnaround with the 3rd round set to take place the following week.

During the 2019/2020 season, 6 Premier League clubs fell victim to ‘cupsets’ by getting dumped out the Carabao Cup by lower league oppositions.

On Tuesday night, Charlton Athletic and Lee Bowyer will make the short 5-mile trip across the capital to face Premier League club West Ham. This will be the first competitive meeting of the local rivals since 2007, and the return of Lee Bowyer to the club which he spent two separate spells with.

The opening weekend of the new season did not bring much joy to West Ham supporters after a crushing 2-0 home defeat to Newcastle United.

Before the season, started West Ham supporters polled the lowest out of the 20 premier league club’s fans on their ‘excitement for the upcoming season’. Now many find their excitement lowered even further by getting dumped out of the Carabao cup by Charlton, which will increase the ever-growing pressure on manager David Moyes, who is 2/1 favourite to be the first manager sacked in the premier league.

In the last three seasons, West Ham have been knocked out of cup competitions by league 1 clubs-a trend which could continue.

Consecutive defeats to Wigan (2018), Wimbledon (2019) and Oxford (2019) have ensured no cup successes have been enjoyed in East London and it is expected that both managers will make upwards to ten changes from the starting line-up, which began their league season on Saturday.

Charlton have begun the season with back to back victories against Swindon and Crewe, and will face a much harder test when travelling to the London Stadium but a victory at the premier league club will be a fine addition to the ever-growing Lee Bowyer CV, as he returns to face the team he supported as a boy.

Charlton to qualify at 11/2 is an outsider but I believe the price is worth taking on the night, which is known for providing plenty of ‘cupsets’.

Charlton to qualify 11/2 (Betfair, Paddy Power)