Barnsley v Charlton

As Charlton youngsters Scott Wagstaff and Jonjo Shelvey prepared to make their first team debuts at relegation-haunted Barnsley on Saturday, manager Alan Pardew accepted the club had a responsibility to the league not to field an understrength side.

Pardew was furious when Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez fielded what was virtually a reserve side last season at Craven Cottage where they lost to Fulham.

The result impacted on Charlton who were subsequently relegated while Fulham survived.

FA Cup semi-finalists Barnsley need a win to survive and Pardew admitted: "Even though we’re out of promotion contention, it’s important we stay focused because it would be easy to lose that now all our promotion aspirations have gone.

“The priority is to finish well. We were victims of Rafa Benitez’s reserve side that played at Fulham last season and that still sticks in my throat. So I’m not going to have that thrown at me by other managers over my team selection on Saturday.”

But he added: “We’ll be taking a look at a couple of things in preparation for next season. We want to finish as high as we can but having said that I need to have a good look at one or two squad members."

Lloyd Sam, Jerome Thomas and Zheng Zhi are all out of contention through injuries and Pardew admitted that the China captain was suffering from fatigue.