Injury worries for Curbishley

Charlton manager Alan Curbishley faces a headache over who to play up front against Manchester City at Maine Road tomorrow.

A back injury to Mathias Svensson, picked up in the first half of their 5-0 drubbing by West Ham on Boxing Day, is likely to keep him out for some time.

Curbishley is still without first choice strikers Andy Hunt and Clive Mendonca and is therefore likely to turn to Swede Martin Pringle.

He replaced Svensson against West Ham in a defeat which forced Charlton's Mark Kinsella to issue a public apology to the fans for their poor display.

Kinsella said: "We let ourselves down against West Ham and we know that. We never got going. They were sharper to the ball and they knocked us for six from the word go.

"Tomorrow's game cannot come quick enough for us because we want to stop the rot. If we can come away with three or four points from the next two games we will be happy."

Curbishley will include defender Mark Fish in the squad if, as expected, he recovers from a slight knock.