Charlton face three games in a week, Scunthorpe in the FA Cup on Saturday, Colchester in the Checkatrade Trophy on Tuesday, and a televised League One encounter at Swindon next Saturday.
The Swindon game will top Russell Slade’s priority list. The manager will have to juggle his squad, and cope with the loss of Jordan Botaka, Ademola Lookman, Josh Magennis, and possibly Andrew Crofts for the Colchester and Swindon games, due to international call commitments.
Predicting his team selection for the Scunthorpe game is difficult, but there are some clues. Slade said at his Thursday press conference that there would be changes, and that some players needed minutes. He will also want to give some of his key players a breather.
Lookman and Magennis would be likely absentees in normal circumstances, but with the duo being unavailable next week, Slade may opt to include them against the Iron.
Nicky Ajose, Adam Chicksen, Kevin Foley, Harry Lennon and Lee Novak are probably in the group that the manager wants to give minutes too.
Dillon Phillips will start at Colchester, so Slade may well stick with Declan Rudd for this game. Jorge Teixeira is another who will feature on Tuesday.
The Addicks could look something like this:
Rudd; Konsa, Bauer, Lennon, Chicksen; Foley, Crofts, Jackson, Lookman; Novak, Ajose.
Subs: Phillips, Fox, Johnson, Dijksteel, Ulvestad, Hanlan, Magennis.
The referee will be Chris Sarginson from Manchester.
Graham Alexander is also likely to make changes to his high-flying team. While the league is the priority is for both managers, they will be aware of the momentum a Cup run can give.
Both of them will be trying to win while protecting their major players.