Charlton will be making the short trip through the Blackwall Tunnel to East London on Tuesday night as they take on Premier League West Ham United in the second round of the Carabao Cup in what will be the Addicks' first trip to the Hammers' new home.
Having eased past Swindon Town in the first round, Lee Bowyer may opt to field a slightly stronger squad against the Irons citing it as being a good test for the Addicks in his interview after the 2-0 win over Crewe Alexandra at the weekend. Bowyer also explained that he may look to use the fixture as an opportunity for squad rotation.
West Ham, who join the competition in this round, will be coming in off the back of an opening-day defeat from the weekend having lost 2-0 to Newcastle United in the top flight.
Bowyer may call upon a slightly stronger starting XI than the one that faced Swindon Town in the first round with Conor Washington and Jonny Williams both back from international duty.
However, the manager also stated that the cup is important to help give players minutes using Chuks Aneke as an example, the striker short on minutes having been injured in pre-season.Bowyer revealed that new arrival Dylan Levitt will receive his debut against the Hammers.
Jason Pearce still remains sidelined for the fixture but the Addicks have no other injury concerns going into the tie.
West Ham may well rotate their squad with former Addicks Josh Cullen and goalkeeper Darren Randolph expected to line up against their former side.
Charlton Boss Lee Bowyer: “It’s an opportunity to go and play against a Premier League side. I won’t have to say much [to my players], apart from ‘enjoy it, learn and express yourselves’. We’re going to go there and take the game to them.
Whatever game I turn up to, with whatever squad, I try and win the game. There will be a good side out there tomorrow that try and do the right things as much as they possibly can. We just have to be patient at times and create chances.”
West Ham Midfielder Josh Cullen: "It’ll be good to see everyone as I had two good seasons at Charlton but, hopefully, on the night, we’ll be going out to beat them and get ourselves through to the next round.
"It’s a local derby and it would have been great to have had the fans in because they are two unbelievable sets of fans and I’m sure the players would have loved it but in the times that we’re in, with the virus, everyone’s safety has to come first and rightly so.
"Hopefully we can draw them again before too long and can have the fans in."
Charlton and West Ham have faced one another on 40 occasions. The Hammers have seen the better of the results winning 16 times compared to Charlton's 14 wins. The two sides have played out 10 draws.
The last times the sides met in a competitive scenario was in the Premier League back in February 2007 when the Addicks ran out 4-0 winners at The Valley thanks to goals from Darren Ambrose and Darren Bent coupled with a Jerome Thomas brace.
Charlton are yet to play at the London Stadium but supporters may well remember the Addicks playing at West Ham's former ground, Upton Park, during the clubs' wilderness years. Other supporters may remember some great games between the two sides at the ground such as when Charlton emerged as 2-0 victors against the hosts in August 2002 thanks to two first-half goals from Claus Jensen and Jonathan Fortune. That victory helped the Addicks to a 12th place finish in the Premier League.
Andre Marriner will be in charge of proceedings on Tuesday night. He last officiated the Community Shield game between Arsenal and Liverpool at Wembley where he handed out just one yellow card.
He refereed 38 Premier League games last season, dishing out 59 yellow cards and two reds. He also refereed one Championship fixture, being in charge of Charlton's 3-1 win over Luton Town at The Valley back in February.
The match at London Stadium is being played behind closed doors and supporters are reminded to maintain social distancing guidelines and to stay away from the stadium when the match is taking place.
Supporters can follow all the build-up to the game on Charlton's official Instagram account, official Twitter account and Facebook page as usual. Supporters can watch a live stream of Tuesday’s Carabao Cup game against West Ham United on a new live service created specifically for the competition.
The game is only available to watch in the UK and Ireland, as per EFL broadcast regulations, with a match pass costing £10.
Supporters can purchase a pass by clicking here.
The live stream of the game is not available on Valley Pass because the opposition are in the Premier League. Any Round Two Carabao Cup games not selected for broadcast, that include a Premier League club are being streamed on the new service.
Supporters in the UK and abroad will be able to listen to live audio commentary of the game with a Valley Pass subscription. Click here to purchase your Valley Pass subscription.
The live stream of Tuesday’s game is not included in the package for international supporters who have purchased a live video season pass, as we cannot show the game internationally, however, your pass will entitle you to live audio commentary of the game.