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Sports Mole previews Saturday's Championship clash between Preston North End and Charlton Athletic, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

Preston North End go up against Charlton Athletic on Saturday afternoon with the chance to move into the top six.

However, while Preston sit in seventh position in the Championship table, Charlton travel to Deepdale in ninth and trail their hosts by just the one point.

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Match preview

After promotion from League One, there was the expectation that Charlton may struggle on their return to the second tier, but Nathan Jones has ensured that his side are relishing being underdogs.

Twelve points being accumulated from eight games is far better than the Addicks fanbase would have been anticipating, particularly when they lost three successive matches in all competitions heading into the September international break.

Since then, however, eight points have been racked up from games against Millwall, Sheffield United, Blackburn Rovers and Derby County.

Most notably, Charlton have conceded just twice during that quartet of fixtures, while they have also suffered just one defeat in four away encounters.

James Bree has emerged as the surprise player of the season thus far, the right wing-back scoring a wondergoal versus Derby on Tuesday to take him to two strikes and two assists from just 266 minutes of Championship football this season.

Preston are another team that has upset the applecart this campaign, losing just one of their eight league matches after narrowly avoiding relegation in 2024-25.

That solitary defeat came at Portsmouth on August 30, but Preston have since joined Charlton in putting together a four-match undefeated streak.

As well as a 1-0 triumph at Derby, Paul Heckingbottom's side have recorded draws versus Middlesbrough, Bristol City and Hull City.

The biggest concern for Heckingbottom will be dropping points from winning positions, that being the case versus each of Middlesbrough and Hull.

In the last five encounters between these teams, however, Preston have prevailed from every one, while also losing just once in 11 meetings since 2007.

Preston North End Championship form:

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Preston North End form (all competitions):

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Charlton Athletic Championship form:

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Charlton Athletic form (all competitions):

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Team News

Ali McCann is in contention to be recalled to the Preston midfield ahead of Harrison Armstrong, with the teenager making his first start in midweek.

The rest of the team could plausibly remain the same, but Brad Potts will stay out of contention despite recently returning to training after a long-term injury.

While Jones will also be against overly-tinkering with his Charlton XI, he may see the need to freshen things up.

Miles Leaburn could come into the attack in place of Charlie Kelman, but Bree should keep his spot at wing-back despite his 57th-minute withdrawal in midweek.

Luke Berry and Will Mannion are back in training and closing in on a return to the squad.

Preston North End possible starting lineup:

Iversen; Storey, Lindsay, Gibson; Small, Devine, Whiteman, Armstrong, Vukcevic; Smith, Osmajic

Charlton Athletic possible starting lineup:

Kaminski; Ramsey, Jones, Gillesphey; Bree, Carey, Coventry, Docherty, Bell; Campbell, Kelman

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We say: Preston North End 1-1 Charlton Athletic

 

As two of the surprise packages of this season's Championship, this is a difficult match to predict. With two of the best defences going head to head, a low-scoring draw feels like the most likely outcome, even if we do not rule out either team snatching all three points.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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