Sports Mole previews Saturday’s League One clash between Charlton Athletic and Stockport County, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Two sides targeting promotion from League One this season meet at the Valley on Saturday, when Stockport County travel to the capital to face Charlton Athletic.
Neither side played last weekend as most of the third-tier fixtures were postponed due to international call-ups, denying both the opportunity to build on promising results the week previous.
Match preview
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A trip to Burton Albion was called off for Charlton at the one time in the season they would have most wanted to travel to the Pirelli Stadium, with the Brewers still yet to win this season and in the midst of a five-game losing streak.
Instead, Charlton will get another home game as they seek to prove that an impressive win over title-favourites Birmingham City was no fluke.
Nathan Jones‘s side had lost three in a row before facing the Blues, but the win over Birmingham moved them back level on points with those in the playoffs places, and just four behind Wrexham in the automatic promotion positions.
Pragmatism is still paying off at times for the Addicks, as they have only averaged one goal-per-game this season – only four teams have netted fewer than their tally of 10 – but they are still up on 16 points.
It comes as no surprise that all five of Charlton’s wins so far this season have been accompanied by a clean sheet, and four have ended 1-0, including that victory over the league leaders last time out.
The hosts certainly look on course to improve on last season’s 16th-placed finish – their worst in the pyramid since the 1920s – and with a manager who has a proven track record in the EFL, they are amongst the candidates to battle for the top six.
Stockport were also not in action as their fixture with Wycombe Wanderers was called off, and for manager Dave Challinor, that may have been a blessing.
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The League Two champions have taken just seven points in their last six games, proving that life in the third tier is not as easy as they made it look earlier in the campaign.
County began with three wins from three, and even though it may appear that they have gone on a disappointing run of form, when placed in context, it should still be lauded as an impressive start overall.
Considering they were a sixth-tier club as recently as 2019, and still non-league in 2022, contending for promotion to the Championship so soon is truly remarkable.
Form is on the up as well, as Stockport have taken five points from their last three games, including a win away to Shrewsbury at the start of the month.
This will be the first league meeting between these two since the 2009-10 season, when Charlton won home and away, but Stockport got the better of the Addicks when they met in the FA Cup Second Round in 2022, winning 3-1 in a replay at Edgeley Park.
Charlton Athletic League One form:
Charlton Athletic form (all competitions):
Stockport County League One form:
Stockport County form (all competitions):
Team News
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Charlton will hope both Karoy Anderson and Kaheim Dixon are fit and ready to feature after representing Jamaica in Nicaragua and at home to Honduras last week.
Gassan Ahadme is still an injury concern for manager Jones, but left-side Thierry Small returned off the bench in the win over Birmingham.
Will Collar scored a hat trick for Stockport the last time these two sides met, but he is doubtful having missed the last two matches with injury.
Everton loanee Tyler Onyango is also facing a late fitness test, while injured trio Ryan Rydel, Kyle Knoyle and Macauley Southam-Hales are yet to feature this season.
Stockport had defensive pair Ibou Touray (Gambia) and Tayo Adaramola (Ireland Under-21) away on international duty last week, with the latter part of the Irish youth squad that narrowly missed out on the Euro U-21 finals.
Charlton Athletic possible starting lineup:
Mannion; Ramsay, Mitchell, Jones, Edwards, Campbell; Docherty, Coventry, Anderson; Godden, Kanu
Stockport County possible starting lineup:
Addai; Diamond, Mingi, Horsfall, Pye, Touray; Camps, Bate; Fiorini, Wootton, Barry
We say: Charlton Athletic 1-1 Stockport County
Even though goals have been commonplace in this fixture, with 38 scored in the 10 meetings between the two, both are among the strongest defensively in League One.
Only two teams have conceded fewer goals than Stockport in the division and Charlton are not far behind, so a close encounter looks set to be in store.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.