Having impressed off the bench in recent weeks for Charlton Athletic, Nigel Adkins must unleash Chuks Aneke from the off in the Addicks' crucial League One clash on Tuesday evening.

Since joining Charlton on a free transfer from MK Dons back in the summer of 2019, Aneke has yet to cement his place as a regular in the Addicks' starting XI, with the 27-year-old featuring from the first whistle on just two occasions in the club's 2019/20 Championship campaign, while also starting just 11 times in League One so far this term.

However, despite predominantly being used as a substitute by Adkins, the £5,400-per-week forward is putting together a great argument that he is deserving of a starting spot in the Charlton team, with the former England under-19 international scoring an impressive 14 goals over his total of 36 League One appearances this term.

Indeed, over the club's past seven league fixtures, Aneke has averaged a SofaScore match rating of 6.93 - a figure which is praiseworthy when taking into account that he has played a total of just 126 minutes over these seven games.

Not only have his performances been impressive, but his goals have also been game-changing - none more so than the last-minute equaliser against Accrington Stanley on Saturday, a result which keeps Charlton's hopes of securing a play-off spot very much alive ahead of their clash with Lincoln City on Tuesday evening.

With the form of Conor Washington appearing to be heading in the opposite direction to that of Aneke's - the 28-year-old has averaged a disappointing SofaScore match rating of just 6.4 over his last three fixtures - it would seem an obvious choice to unleash the forward Lee Bowyer dubbed "unplayable" in preference to the Northern Irishman for the Addicks' crucial match tonight.

In other news: Fewer touches than Amos: Charlton flop who lost 87.5% of his duels let Adkins down - opinion