Wycombe are a club that has taken a steppe up

Nathan Jones has emphasised that Charlton need to win all their three remaining games if they are to secure automatic promotion: https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/sport/nathan-jones-charlton-need-to-win-all-their-remaining-games-to-keep-automatic-promotion-dream-alive/

It is mathematically possible, but it seems to me that the excessive pessimism of earlier in the season has now been overtaken by excessive optimism.

Even in League One, money talks in football and all the top three clubs are wealthy, but the Chairboys have the backing of a Kazakh billionaire and are tipped by many pundits to be in the Premier League in a few years' time.

Technology entrepreneur Mikhail Lomtadze has a net worth, according to Forbes, of $5.8billion and that makes him the 592nd richest person in the world right now.

On the pitch, the headline in The Times this morning is 'Wycombe hit stride at perfect time', noting their 2-0 win away at Bolton, themselves play off hopefuls.  This was the third consecutive win for the Chairboys.

Wycombe's coach says that teams visiting beecby Bucks are showing them 'extra respect': https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/sport/boss-of-charlton-athletic-promotion-rivals-in-league-one-makes-respect-claim/

One way of interpreting that is that teams are adopting a defensive strategy and relying on counter attacks to score and these tactics could well earn Charlton a draw.

CAS Trust note: 'Given that Wycombe have been in a promotion challenge all season, their level of support is very disappointing. Apart from the Wrexham game their attendance is usually less than 5000 and sometimes short of 4000. The 1800 Addicks fans travelling on Monday could well comprise at least a third of the crowd and surely will be making all the noise.'

Nathan Jones has assured Charlton's owners, some of whom were at The Valley yesterday, that the club is a 'different animal' now: https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/sport/charlton-athletics-owners-told-their-football-club-is-now-a-different-animal/

We will soon know whether the optimists or the realists are right.