Aiming to continue their climb up the Championship table and break into the playoff places, Sheffield United will head to The Valley to take on Charlton Athletic on Saturday.

Back-to-back victories have seen the visitors move within a point of the top eight, while their visitors sit four points above the drop zone after four straight losses.

Match preview

Charlton Athletic return to action at the weekend aiming to end a dismal run of Championship form and arrest a drop towards the relegation zone.

Following a 19th-placed finish in their first season back in the second tier last time around, the Addicks won their first three league matches of the new term but have since drawn five and lost six of 11 matches.

In those games, Nathan Jones's side have scored just six goals and conceded 20, dropping to 21st spot in the process, just one place and four points above Burnley in the drop zone.

They have now suffered four straight defeats heading into their final match before the international break, falling to Watford, Norwich City and Middlesbrough before they hosted newly-promoted Bolton Wanderers on Tuesday and again came away empty-handed as Sam Dalby scored the only goal inside 20 minutes at the Valley.

With pressure surely growing on Jones, and the international break arguably coming at a decent time to arrest Charlton's slump, they will be desperate to put a win on the board to increase their lead over the drop zone ahead of the return to action.

Their visitors, meanwhile, head to London aiming to carry an upturn in form into the break.

Unlike the hosts, Sheffield United are now bouncing back from a slow start to the Championship season, having set out to challenge for promotion this term only to pick up just nine points from their first eight matches before the opening break of the season.

Chris Wilder's men have reversed their fortunes since, though, putting 13 more points on the board in six outings courtesy of four wins and a draw alongside a solitary away defeat to Portsmouth.

Following a 1-0 home victory over Wrexham on Friday, the Blades headed to strugglers Preston North End on Tuesday and came from 1-0 down to win 3-2 thanks to Sydie Peck's first-half hat-trick, leaving them on 22 points from 14 matches with just five teams conceding fewer than the 17 goals they have allowed.

Now in a much better position in ninth spot, and just one point behind eighth-placed West Ham United, Sheffield United will look to make it three straight wins with the chance to head into the second break of the campaign in the playoff places.

Charlton Athletic Championship form:

Sheffield United Championship form:

Team News

Charlton Athletic remain unable to call on winger Rob Apter, who has been sidelined since early September.

In their midweek defeat, Jones replaced midfielder Nathaniel Chalobah with attacker Miles Leaburn at half time and could go with a more attacking shape from the outset at the weekend with Leaburn, Matt Godden, Sonny Carey and Millenic Alli all competing for attacking spots.

That is after Charlie Kelman led the line against Bolton with support from Harvey Knibbs, Karlan Grant and top scorer Tyreece Campbell, while Conor Coventry is a mainstay in the engine room and Will Mannion was preferred in net over Arthur Okonkwo last time out.

Sheffield United are without forwards Patrick Bamford and Ryan One and midfielder Joe Rothwell, while Kalvin Phillips was also absent in midweek but may be fit to feature.

He is unlikely to be rushed back, though, and Wilder should field a similar starting XI from their midweek away win, meaning Jairo Riedewald may again partner Peck, who decided that game with his hat-trick, while Liam Kitching should come straight back into the defence after serving a one-match suspension on Tuesday.

In a 4-4-2 shape, they may again be flanked by Romelle Donovan and Tahith Chong with Ben Brereton Diaz, Tom Cannon, Tyrese Campbell and Oliver Arblaster competing for attacking spots in Bamford's absence.

Charlton Athletic possible starting lineup:

Mannion; McNamara, Jones, Koumetio, Bell; Coventry; Alli, Knibbs, Grant, Campbell; Leaburn

Sheffield United possible starting lineup:

Cooper; Choudhury, Tanganga, Kitching, Burrows; Chong, Peck, Riedewald, Donovan; Brereton Diaz, Cannon

We say: Charlton Athletic 0-1 Sheffield United

Sheffield United appear to be hitting their stride since the season's first international break and have ground out several hard-fought wins in recent weeks, while the hosts seem unable to arrest a slump and we fancy Wilder's men to take all three points again with their sights set on the top eight.

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