Preview: Tottenham Hotspur vs Charlton Athletic - prediction, team news, lineups

Seeking to bounce back from a bitterly disappointing opening-weekend Premier League defeat, Tottenham Hotspur welcome Charlton Athletic to North London for an EFL Cup second-round tie on Wednesday night.

The victors will enter the third-round draw taking place after the match, with those ties scheduled for the weeks commencing September 7 and September 14.

Match preview

After narrowly avoiding relegation from the Premier League last season, Roberto De Zerbi's expensively rebuilt Tottenham side endured a nightmare start to their 2026-27 campaign, as they suffered a deserved 3-0 away defeat against Brentford on Saturday.

Familiar failings were evident despite the pre-match optimism and the plethora of fresh faces included in Spurs’ side, and De Zerbi has since conceded that his squad are "not a team yet", lamenting that his players "didn’t fight the right way" against a ruthless Bees outfit.

The arrivals of attacking duo Savinho and Omar Marmoush are imminent, taking Spurs’ summer spending over £300m, yet it is in defence that concerns remain; the North Londoners have kept just two clean sheets in their last 18 competitive fixtures, while they also conceded in four of their seven pre-season friendlies.

Before playing host to Newcastle in the top flight on Saturday, Tottenham will be looking to claim their first home win of the new season against Charlton whom they have beaten in each of their last five meetings across all competitions by an aggregate score of 16-4.

Spurs’ last domestic cup triumph was the 2008 EFL Cup and they have since failed to progress beyond the fourth round in this competition on 10 occasions in the last 18 years. A fourth-round defeat to Newcastle was suffered last season, while they were eliminated in round two by Fulham on penalties in 2023-24.

Charlton finished 19th on their return to the Championship last season and they have since made a positive start to the new campaign, winning their opening two matches by 2-1 scorelines against Derby County and newly-relegated outfit West Ham United.

Over 59,000 supporters at the London Stadium expecting only one outcome between the Hammers and the Addicks last weekend, but it was the visitors who relished their underdog status and claimed a “magnificent win” in the eyes of head coach Nathan Jones, courtesy of goals either side of half time from captain Lloyd Jones and Tyreece Campbell.

Charlton, who have strengthened their squad with eight new arrivals this summer, are now unbeaten in four away games against teams who have been relegated from the top flight (W3 D1) and they are one of only three Championship sides with a 100% record after the opening two gameweeks.

Their next league match at The Valley against Preston North End takes place three days after their trip to Tottenham where the Addicks have not won since Alan Curbishley led his team to a 3-2 Premier League win back in November 2004.

In the EFL Cup, Charlton beat Cheltenham Town 3-1 in the first round earlier this month, but they have progressed beyond the second round just once in the last 10 years, reaching the quarter-finals in 2022-23. They were knocked out in the second round of last season’s competition by lower-league Cambridge United, losing 3-1 away from home.

Tottenham Hotspur form (all competitions):

Charlton Athletic EFL Cup form:

Charlton Athletic form (all competitions):

Team News

Tottenham will be without injured quartet Xavi Simons, Dejan Kulusevski and Wilson Odebert (all knee) and Mohammed Kudus (thigh), while Micky van de Ven, Pedro Porro (both fitness) and Pape Sarr (thigh) are unlikely to be risked on Wednesday after missing the defeat to Brentford.

James Maddison landed awkwardly on his shoulder towards the end of last weekend’s match and has emerged as a doubt. £85m signing Mateus Fernandes, Rodrigo Bentancur and Lucas Bergvall could be the midfield trio who start against Charlton, with Sandro Tonali and ex-Addicks loanee Conor Gallagher reverting to the bench.

Twenty-year-old Archie Gray became Spurs’ youngest player to captain the club last time out and he could retain his starting spot at right-back, while Dominic Solanke will hope to return up front at the expense of Richarlison.

As for Charlton, Kayne Ramsay and Charlie Kelman remain sidelined through injury, while Josh Edwards has returned to training and is closing in on a return to first-team action, but an appearance against Spurs appears to be unlikely.

Wednesday’s fixture may also come too soon for new midfield signing Timothy Ouma, who has been building up his fitness with the club’s Under-21s since joining on loan from Slavia Prague.

Former Chelsea man Nathaniel Chalobah could continue in centre-midfield alongside Conor Coventry, while Jones will weigh up whether to stick with a front four of Campbell, Sonny Carey, Karlan Grant and Miles Leaburn who all started in the win over West Ham.

Tottenham Hotspur possible starting lineup:

Dubravka; Gray, Van Hecke, Danso, Udogie; Fernandes, Bentancur, Bergvall; Moore, Solanke, Tel

Charlton Athletic possible starting lineup:

Kaminski; Rankin-Costello, Jones, Burke, Bell; Chalobah, Coventry; Campbell, Carey, Grant; Leaburn

We say: Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Charlton Athletic

Spurs will be desperate to put their opening-day horror show behind them and deliver a much-improved performance in front of an expectant home crowd, putting pressure on De Zerbi’s new-look side.

While a high-flying Charlton side possess the momentum to make life difficult for the hosts, the Premier League outfit should ultimately have enough quality to get the job done and progress to the third round.

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