6 Wins To Stay Up

The Addicks are currently second from bottom of the table with 20 points, level with West Ham United one place higher, with both clubs five points adrift of 17th-placed Wigan Athletic.

Those six wins would take the club to 38 points, and Pardew feels that would be enough to stay up.

With Darren Bent’s return to first team action Pardew is confident the Addicks will be ok.


‘He is probably the key to our survival hopes so we decided to hold him back and give him two weeks more training and get him ready for the next game.

‘The goal scorer in any team is the key – Thierry Henry is as much the key to Arsenal as Darren Bent is to Charlton.

‘You need your big players. He has great temperament to handle that kind of pressure. He’s not the type to sit in the treatment room, he’s been itching to do things and we’ve had to tie him to the bed at times, but he’ll be ready.’

‘I was disappointed not to take him to Old Trafford. He brings a bigger threat for us, and when you play Manchester United I think you need that punch. But I think we have coped very well recently considering we haven’t had him available.’

Four points from four matches away to Portsmouth, Bolton Wanderers and league leaders United, and at home to defending champions Chelsea, would back that statement up.

‘We need to win six or more of our remaining games this season,’ declared Alan.

‘That’s more than we have done already but when Darren returns from injury we have probably got a better team than we had earlier.

‘We have some hard work ahead of us. We have to make sure there are no grey areas and that everyone knows their roles. We need a little bit of luck and we need our best players. If we can get everyone highly motivated then anything is possible.

‘I have to say that we are showing good signs, but we obviously need points.’

Pardew has also asked the fans for plenty of vocal support, ‘The biggest bonus from the Chelsea defeat was the response we had from the fans,’ said Alan.

‘Losing a game 1-0 is not nice for home fans, regardless of the opposition, but they would not leave us alone – they just kept encouraging us to win the game.

‘We cannot possibly lose that feeling. If we lose that between now and the end I think it’s over for us. That power, that heart, will be just as key as Darren.’