Charlton Athletic play host to in-form Norwich City as they aim to push themselves away from relegation danger and into the reaches of lower mid-table.
The Addicks have been on a strong run of having lost just two of their last ten matches which has seen them move nine points clear of the drop zone with eight fixtures left to play.
The last time the two sides met back in Boxing Day, Norwich came out as 1-0 winners after Jovon Makama scored for the third match in a row.
That results was seen as hugely damaging to the South East London’s side survival hopes as the Canaries were stuck second from bottom and even with that victory at Carrow Road remained lodged down in the bottom three.
The Norfolk based side have been invigorated under the management of former Rangers boss Phillipe Clement and are now firmly away from the relegation picture and looking towards an ambitious albeit unlikely playoff tilt.
Despite suffering defeat on Wednesday night against promotion harbourers Southampton, since the turn of the year the Yellows have won ten of their last 14 matches and have not lost two games in a row in the Belgian’s tenure thus far.
In their last 20 matches, only their East Anglian rivals Ipswich Town have picked up more points than their 38 that they have accrued during that period.
On their travels they have won five of their seven matches in 2026 with victories against QPR, Wrexham, West Brom, Oxford United, and Leicester City. With this in mind, they will be looking to notch up another victory at The Valley on Saturday.
While, Norwich look to be a sterner proposition compared to the last time these two sides met back in December, Charlton Athletic also look to be in a better place having been boosted by January arrivals Harry Clarke, Luke Chambers, Conor Coady and Lyndon Dykes.
Addicks manager Nathan Jones will have a selection dilemma on his hands with Thomas Kaminski having returned to the bench last time out in their 1-1 draw against Oxford United, with Will Mannion having conceded just twice in four appearances after the Polish keeper suffered a hamstring injury.
As mentioned, the Reds have been in strong form particularly after their 4-0 humbling by Millwall at the end of January, winning four of ten matches and having only lost to Portsmouth and Wrexham where they will have felt that they were unlucky not to have picked up a point.
In that run of form, only in their 3-1 reversal against Pompey have Charlton Athletic conceded more than one goal helping to highlight their improvement in defence.
This can also be traced to A’mari Bell returning from injury, in addition to wing-backs Clarke and Chambers, who joined from Ipswich and Liverpool respectively.
With seven points on the board from their last three fixtures, including victory against Middlesbrough, the hosts can go into this fixture knowing that their relegation fears have subsided and may just need few points to assure safety for a second successive season back in the second tier.
With Norwich’s strong form, they know that they will be in for one of their toughest tests left of the season.
As well as this, it will be a good marker to showcase how much Charlton have improved in recent weeks in contrary to their result back in December which was their sixth defeat in eight matches.
The Canaries will go into the fixture aiming to continue their surge up the table and to build momentum for a promotion push in 2026/27.
On the other hand, Charlton are aiming to win consecutive home games for the first time since beating Blackburn Rovers and Sheffield Wednesday back in October.
The hosts’ last five wins at The Valley stretching back to November have all been by 1-0 scorelines having defeated West Brom, Oxford United, Sheffield United, Stoke City, and Birmingham City and will be look to repeating that trick to push past the 50 point barrier.
