Can we win the first of several big battles with blues either side of Christmas?
It seems like only yesterday that Charlton and Birmingham City were scrapping in a promotion race - two big clubs with higher-division histories, pushing themselves all the way as they tried to fight their way out of League One. For a brief spell earlier this season, it even looked as though both sides might again be edging around the margins of the playoff picture but as Christmas approaches, the shape of the campaign has shifted, and our ambitions feel a wee bit more grounded.
Charlton travel to St Andrew’s @Knighthead Park with that realism, but also with perspective. Recent events have reminded us that sometimes football isn’t the most important thing in the world. Yet the rhythm of the season continues, and this match sits at the front of a run of fixtures that look far more winnable. This isn’t a trip to fear. If anything, it’s one that offers opportunity despite Birmingham's impressive home record and their recent run of home wins against Portsmouth (4-0) Millwall (4-0) Norwich (4-1) and Watford (2-1).
We know them well from the past couple of seasons, and the record remains remarkably even. Their narrow 1–0 victory over us back in February was settled by a single moment rather than superiority. By contrast, one of our best performances of last season came in October 2024 at The Valley. That day gave us a controlled, confident 1–0 win sealed by Matty Godden, in a match hyped up as a battle of past v future, after the prolonged Alfie May saga.
Across all these meetings, the pattern is clear: Charlton tend to compete with our bigger-budget rivals and often rise to the occasion. However, we also can't escape the fact that they have a few players in their squad of Premier League pedigree; such is the nature of their finances and their aspirations. Foremost amongst these in terms of box-office names are the front pairing of Kyogo Furuhashi - a proven goalscorer with Glasgow Celtic - and ten to fifteen million pound signing Jay Stansfield. Added to that they boast other big names in Tomoki Iwata - another Japanese international with serious pedigree - and Patrick Roberts, also formerly of Celtic, now on loan from Sunderland.
How Nathan Jones will set up his side is anyone's guess. The last few weeks have seen changes galore in personnel and shape. An aggressive man-to-man press has been employed and consistently exploited by Southampton, Stoke and Middlesbrough. A more defensively solid set up was used against Coventry but that fell to pieces following the forced withdrawal of Amari’i Bell. Birmingham have a squad with the technical ability to play around a man to man system although selecting Karoy Anderson and Greg Docherty could add some much needed bite to the midfield. Whoever gets selected needs to be full of energy as Birmingham average 56% possession this season and create a lot of big chances. The Blues don’t convert enough of those chances but have still scored ten more goals than The Addicks.
We go into this fixture with every reason to believe we can take something from it. More importantly, the matches that follow appear far more inviting, meaning this game arrives without the pressure of being a “must-win.” Still, it would be a nice Christmas bonus to beat the first of the blues we are going to face in the next month - Birmingham, Portsmouth and then the small matter of a London derby against Chelsea who we haven't faced competitively since 2007.
It's going to be a blue, blue Christmas!
Photo by Rhea Spencer-Newell