Charlton captain Mark Kinsella has warned his teammates they will have to abandon their footballing principles in order to survive in the Premiership.

Like Barnsley before them, Charlton have earned widespread support for their commitment to passing football as they try to keep afloat in the top flight on a shoestring budget.

But Kinsella is well aware that all the goodwill in the country could not prevent Barnsley being relegated after just one season.

The Republic of Ireland international is determined to ensure the same fate will not befall the south London club as they battle to avoid the drop in their last four games of the season, beginning at Everton today.

"We're all in good spirits," said Kinsella after Tuesday's 4-1 home defeat by Tottenham which plunged them back into the bottom three.

"We should be sitting comfortably in mid-table with the results we've let go and now we've ended up having to battle.

"We have to drag ourselves out of a hole and we have the players to do it - but maybe sometimes we have played too much football and got stung for it.

"On Saturday the players know we have to roll up our sleeves and scrap. A draw doesn't suit anybody, but we seem to lift ourselves for the big game."

Charlton have been favourites to make an instant return to the First Division ever since gaining promotion. Kinsella, already being linked with other Premiership clubs should Charlton go down, is determined to cause a few people to rip up their betting slips in disgust come May 16th. "We knew we would be down there fighting and we want to prove all those doubters wrong. It's in our hands and it could all change."

Meanwhile Southampton defender Ken Monkou returns to action against Derby today, hoping his experience will help his side in their battle to avoid relegation. The former Chelsea defender still believes Southampton can escape the drop but said: "It's important we don't do anything silly. "I'm very positive about our chances, and that's the only way to be. The bottom line from this game is that we can't afford to come away with nothing." Southampton have already proved their ability to get the results they need to avoid the drop, according to Monkou.

"We showed what we are capable of last weekend against Blackburn. The lads were 3-1 down and they managed to battle back to 3-3 when I thought they were history," said the Dutchman.

UEFA yesterday responded to criticism of ticket allocation for the Champions League final by giving Manchester United and Bayern Munich an additional 5,000 tickets each.

An increase to 30,000 tickets per team was agreed in Barcelona after a meeting to discuss security arrangements for the final at the Nou Camp Stadium on May 26th.

While United fans will have been pleased by the extra tickets, UEFA is unlikely to give them joy where Roy Keane and Paul Scholes are concerned.

The two players received automatic one-match bans after picking up second bookings against Juventus in Turin on Wednesday but a UEFA spokesman said there was "no chance" of any change to that ruling.

If only UEFA had last summer introduced the rule change which will come into force next season when two bookings will no longer attract an instant suspension.

In next season's Champions' League and UEFA Cup competitions mandatory one-match bans will not take effect until a player has received a third yellow card.