After impressing from the bench in Charlton Athletic’s recent fixtures, Nigel Adkins must include Chuks Aneke in his starting XI this Sunday.
Having joined Charlton on a free transfer back in 2019, Aneke is yet to cement a regular place in the Addicks’ first team, with the £5,400-per-week forward starting just 11 times in League One this season, while making a further 26 appearances from the bench.
However, despite only featuring for an average of 41 minutes per game, the 27-year-old has impressed for the Addicks, bagging 15 goals and registering two assists in the league.
Aneke once again put in a show-stopping performance from the bench against Lincoln City last time out, scoring a goal and providing an assist in the 3-1 win – with his SofaScore match rating of 8.4 ranking him as the best player from either side on the day, despite only being on the pitch for 44 minutes.
Not only is he Charlton’s top league goalscorer, the timing of his strikes have often been game-changing – as was seen with his last-minute equaliser against Accrington Stanley, a result which kept Charlton’s play-off hopes alive.
As such, considering that Adkins’ side must get a win against Hull City today if they are to have any hope of securing a place in the play-offs, it would seem most advisable to allow Aneke as much time on the pitch as possible, considering just how influential he has been for the club this season.
With Ian Maatsen having been struggling for form of late, it would seem the logical move to replace the 19-year-old with Aneke for Sunday’s clash, as the player Lee Bowyer dubbed “immense” has proven so many times this season that he is the man for the big occasion.
In other news: Lost possession 15x: Charlton passenger who committed six fouls let Adkins down against Lincoln – opinion
