STAR FOOTBALL PREVIEW Sat: Charlton v Chelsea

It’s an all-London affair on Saturday evening in the third round of the FA Cup as Charlton Athletic take on Chelsea at the Valley, writes JOE CITRONE.

After a strong start to the season, Charlton have been dragged into relegation danger in recent weeks, but back-to-back draws in their last two matches against Coventry and Blackburn have kept their head above water for now.

Naturally, their main focus will be securing Championship football after earning their spot back in the second-tier last season, but a cup run wouldn’t go amiss for Nathan Jones’ side, and I’m sure they’d love to get one over on their London rivals.

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Charlton Athletic v Chelsea
FA Cup Third Round
20:00 TNT Sports 1 / TNT Sports Ultimate / discovery+

LAST FIVE STATS

HEAD-TO-HEAD
FEB 2007 PREMIER LEAGUE Charlton 0-1 Chelsea
SEP 2006 PREMIER LEAGUE Chelsea 2-1 Charlton
JAN 2006 PREMIER LEAGUE Chelsea 1-1 Charlton
OCT 2005 LEAGUE CUP Charlton 1-1 Chelsea
SEP 2005 PREMIER LEAGUE Charlton 0-2 Chelsea

CHARLTON
JAN 2026 CHAMPIONSHIP Blackburn 2-2 Charlton
JAN 2026 CHAMPIONSHIP Charlton 1-1 Coventry
DEC 2025 CHAMPIONSHIP Portsmouth 2-1 Charlton
DEC 2025 CHAMPIONSHIP Norwich 1-0 Charlton
DEC 2025 CHAMPIONSHIP Charlton 1-0 Oxford

CHELSEA
JAN 2026 PREMIER LEAGUE Fulham 2-1 Chelsea
JAN 2026 PREMIER LEAGUE Man City 1-1 Chelsea
DEC 2025 PREMIER LEAGUE Chelsea 2-2 Bournemouth
DEC 2025 PREMIER LEAGUE Chelsea 1-2 Aston Villa
DEC 2025 PREMIER LEAGUE Newcastle 2-2 Chelsea

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Chelsea have already lost one London derby this week, going down 2-1 to Fulham in midweek with new manager Liam Rosenior watching on from the stands, and will be desperate to avoid another when they face Charlton on Saturday.

It would make sense for Rosenior, who will be on the touchline for the first time for this game, to experiment a little with this side, but with eyebrows raised at his appointment, he will be desperate to get off to a good start and avoid any kind of cup upset.

I expect the Blues to get the job done on Saturday, but having conceded in eight of their last 10 matches, there’s clearly a risk they let one in again. For that reason, I’m backing a Chelsea win with both teams to score at 7/4 with starsports.bet, along with a small punt on the 3–1 correct score at 9/1.

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PROFIT/LOSS (JAN 2026): -0.20 points

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