The Addicks continue their 2021/22 Emirates FA Cup campaign at The Valley this Sunday (2pm) as Premier League side Norwich City visit SE7.
Johnnie Jackson’s men have already twice navigated their way past non-League opposition to book the third-round tie with the Canaries, first cruising to a 4-0 triumph over Havant & Waterlooville in SE7 before beating Gateshead 2-0 on Tyneside in front of the ITV4 cameras last month.
TEAM NEWS
Top scorer Jayden Stockley (hip) will be assessed by Charlton ahead of the fixture, though on-loan defender Akin Famewo is ineligible to face his parent club.
Sam Lavelle (groin) and Jake Forster-Caskey (ACL) will also miss out as the duo continue their respective rehabilitation programmes.
Head coach Dean Smith confirmed the visitors are set to welcome back a number of players this weekend after missing as many as 10 first-teamers for their last league outing at Crystal Palace.
Canaries sextet Tim Krul (Covid), Max Aarons (Covid), Grant Hanley (shoulder), Todd Cantwell (Covid), Milot Rashica (groin) and Teemu Pukki (Covid) could all feature having returned to training, but Christoph Zimmermann (ankle), Andrew Omobamidele (back), Lukas Rupp (hamstring) and Mathias Normann (pelvic) remain sidelined.
THE OPPOSITION
Smith’s side are yet to play in 2022 having seen their New Year’s Day clash at Leicester City postponed owing to a Covid outbreak in the Norwich squad, coupled with several injuries.
As such, the Canaries travel to the capital on the back of five consecutive Premier League reverses without scoring, leaving them rooted to the foot of the table.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Charlton and Norwich have gone toe-to-toe on 82 previous occasions with the Addicks winning 35, the Canaries 28 and the remaining 19 encounters resulting in draws.
Our last meeting with the Canaries came at Carrow Road in the second round of the Carabao Cup in August 2017. Although Lee Novak opened the scoring for the Addicks after just five minutes, the hosts prevailed 4-1 as Josh Murphy’s brace was followed by strikes from Marley Watkins and Tom Trybull.
Norwich’s last trip to The Valley, meanwhile, saw the visitors edge a five-goal thriller in February 2015. After first-half goals from Jonny Howson and Lewis Grabban had put the Canaries in the ascendancy, Tony Watt and Igor Vetokele both struck in seven second-half minutes to set up a grandstand finish in SE7, only for Cameron Jerome to notch the winner on 83 minutes.
MATCH OFFICIALS
Joshua Smith will be the man in the middle on Sunday afternoon, taking charge of his first ever Charlton fixture.
Smith will be assisted by Jonathan Hunt and Nik Barnard, while Darren Drysdale is the Fourth Official.
OTHER INFO
-Tickets are still available for the Addicks’ first competitive encounter against Premier League opposition at The Valley in 15 years. Click here to secure yours!
-New Covid guidelines are now in place for games at The Valley following the pre-Christmas updates from the government. Please click here for more information.
-Both the Fans’ Bar and Bartram’s will be opening its doors to fans from 11am.
-FA broadcast rules dictate that the club cannot stream the encounter live on CharltonTV, though CharltonTV subscribers can listen to live audio commentary of the game by clicking here. Meanwhile, overseas Addicks can find international broadcasting details here.
-Supporters can buy Valley Gold Jackpot tickets online for the fixture. For every £1 spent on a Jackpot ticket, half goes to the club’s academy to help produce the stars of the future, while the other half goes to the two winners of a cash prize.
Click here to be in with a chance of winning up to £2,000.
-The Valley Superstore is currently offering 50% off all training wear. The Superstore opens at 10am through until kick-off and will open against 30 minutes after the game.