by Mark Denham

It's been a tough week for football fans. Games the length and breadth of the UK have been postponed or disrupted by the bitter conditions in the past seven days; our game with Arsenal on Tuesday night being one of the high profile casualties.

That game at the Emirates has been moved to Monday 16^th February, though before that game we have to concentrate on the fixture with Charlton Athletic. Weather permitting, the Bluebirds will travel to East London on Saturday afternoon to face the Championship's bottom club in a game that Dave Jones will target as a vital three points to continue our promotion push.

Charlton and Cardiff have played each other just three times since the 1984/85 season as the two clubs avoided each other for the best part of the past two decades whilst they respectively navigated their way through the divisions. The Addicks won the two encounters last season following their relegation to the Championship, though Cardiff beat Charlton earlier this year at Ninian Park 2-0 thanks to a brace from Ross McCormack.

Although the bookmakers may well consider the Bluebirds favourites for this clash, we have struggled against central London sides on our visits to the Capital over the past ten years. In fact City have won just five times in thirty-one London visits since the start of the 1998/99 season, drawing six of those but losing on twenty occasions.

Our last win in London was in the third game of the 2007/08 season against Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road. Two Paul Parry strikes that day were enough to secure our first win of the campaign against a Rangers side that bore little to no resemblance to the squad of millionaires that Paulo Sousa will bring to Ninian Park later this month. We have returned twice to London since then, losing to Charlton in November 2007 before falling, again to Q.P.R. earlier this season in what was Michael Chopra's loan spell return to the club.

In the last ten years, it's Q.P.R who we have visited the most and have recorded most away wins against. Out of eight visits, the Bluebirds have won four times against the Super Hoops, the biggest being a 4-0 victory in November 2002 thanks to a Robert Earnshaw hatrick and an Andy Campbell ninetieth minute strike. Our only other win in the Capital in the past decade was a 2-1 victory against Crystal Palace in the 2006/07 season; Michael Chopra scored in the second minute of that game to give Cardiff the lead before a late Riccy Scimeca strike negated Palace's first half equaliser. Millwall's New Den has been another place we have frequented often in recent years, though games there have most commonly ended in draws with the two sides sharing the spoils four out of the last six occasions.

So, weather permitting, the Bluebirds will travel twice to London in the next nine days after making the trip down the M4 just three times in the last two seasons. Eastenders Charlton Athletic have found some spirit in recent weeks and will surely look to continue their fight against relegation on Saturday afternoon. Meanwhile, North Londoners Arsenal will travel a few miles east to bitter rivals Spurs on Sunday afternoon for a spicy warm up to the cup replay with City on Monday week.