Preview: Birmingham City vs Charlton Athletic - prediction, team news, lineups

Looking for some home comforts as the festive period rolls on, Birmingham City welcome Charlton Athletic to St Andrew's @ Knighthead Park on Saturday afternoon for a Championship clash.

Blues suffered late heartbreak at the base of Queens Park Rangers earlier in the week, whilst the Addicks were defeated on their own patch by Middlesbrough.

Match preview

After a solid home win over Watford in the Second City to start December, Birmingham City have once again struggled to crack the code away from St Andrew's, losing back-to-back matches at Southampton and QPR.

The display from Blues at Loftus Road was arguably their worst of the campaign and somehow looked set to earn them a point when Patrick Roberts netted an added-time equaliser, however a strike from substitute Kieran Morgan snatched victory for the hosts.

On the back of losing their seventh away contest of the campaign, Birmingham are sitting in a modest 11th position in the Championship standings ahead of Saturday's clash with Charlton, three points behind the playoff pace.

The home form of Chris Davies's men suggests that they could be a major player in the promotion picture as the season continues, with Blues winning six and losing just one of their nine games at St Andrew's to date.

With 10 of his 11 goal contributions arriving in the Second City so far this term, Jay Stanfield loves playing in front of his adoring crowd, with the 23-year-old striking up a good partnership with Marvin Ducksch during recent home games.

After flirting with the prospect of a playoff charge and taunting supporters of their newly-promoted partners early on, Charlton Athletic have been brought back down to Earth in recent times, losing five straight matches.

The latest of those defeats arrived at the Valley on Tuesday night, when once again the Addicks gave themselves a mountain to climb during the first half, with former Birmingham man Riley McGree and Morgan Whittaker finding the net for Middlesbrough.

Last enjoying a second-tier success at the expense of West Bromwich Albion on November 4, Charlton have dropped down to 19th position in the Championship table, now just six points above 22nd-placed Portsmouth.

Similar to Saturday's hosts, Nathan Jones's men have struggled massively on the road in the Championship so far, with the Addicks winning just two contests and collecting nine points across 10 outings.

Charlton were no match for Birmingham overall last season in League One, however the South London club were one of only three to inflict a league defeat Davies's third-tier juggernaut during a recording-breaking 2024-25 term for Blues.

Birmingham City Championship form: L W D W L L

Charlton Athletic Championship form: W L L L L L

Team News

Birmingham could be without the services of Alex Cochrane once again, with the left-back missing the QPR defeat due to a minor injury.

As a result, Jack Robinson is expected to continue in defence, however there could be a change on the other side of the backline.

Bright Osayi-Samuel has looked off the pace during both of his starts since returning from injury, with Tomoki Iwata potentially switching to right-back.

A loanee at Birmingham during the dark days under Lee Clark, Charlton defender Amari'i Bell will be unable to feature against his former employers due to a muscle injury.

Scoring against Blues on occasion whilst at Coventry City, Matt Godden is sidelined for the Addicks because of a knee problem.

Birmingham City possible starting lineup:

Beadle; Iwata, Neumann, Klarer, Robinson; Paik, Doyle, Roberts, Stansfield, Gray, Ducksch

Charlton Athletic possible starting lineup:

Kaminski; Jones, Ramsay, Gillesphey; Docherty, Bree, Berry, Anderson, Carey; Leaburn, Campbell