Birmingham City

Charlton remain worryingly close to the Championship's relegation zone with only seven points separating them from the bottom three.

Birmingham have suffered successive defeats to halt their charge towards the play-off places and are looking to bounce back in a match between two clubs promoted from League One last season.

• Charlton are looking for consecutive home league wins against Birmingham for the first time since beating them in 2004-05 and 2005-06 in the Premier League.

• Only one of the past 14 league meetings between Charlton and Birmingham has seen more than two goals scored, a 2-1 Addicks win in April 2016.

• Charlton have lost 11 of their past 21 league games (W4 D6) – since the start of this run on 8 November, only Sheffield Wednesday (18) and West Brom (12) have lost more Championship games.

• Birmingham City have lost their past two Championship matches but have not lost three league games in a row under manager Chris Davies before. The Blues last had a longer losing run in March 2024 (four defeats).

• Charlton Athletic manager Nathan Jones has only won two of his nine league games against Birmingham City as a manager (D3 L4), 1-0 wins with Luton in February 2021 and the Addicks in October 2024.

Image source, Getty Images

Birmingham City head coach says they will "continue to monitor" goalkeeper James Beadle in the build up to Saturday's Championship match against Charlton.

Beadle suffered an eye injury after colliding with his team-mate Jonathan Panzo in the 20th minute of Monday's 3-1 home defeat by automatic-promotion chasers Middlesbrough.

The 21-year-old Brighton loanee carried on playing after initial treatment, with Blues 1-0 down at the time, and finished the match.

"He's OK," Davies told BBC Radio WM. "He's obviously had all the checks during the game, half-time and after the game and everything else.

"He's obviously been monitored as you normally would do with that, but he's OK.

"To my understanding, his vision was okay and he felt fine, but it ended up being a difficult period for him between that and half-time.

"Obviously the way we were playing was forcing a lot of pressure on to him as well. He's had all the checks and we're monitoring him."

Defeat by Boro was Blues' second in six days and left them eight points adrift of the play-off places as they prepare for their trip to the Valley.

Despite the setback, Davies said he has been reminding his players to stay focussed as they enter the remaining 11 games of the season.

"The message is, as always, you've got to dust yourself down very quickly and be ready for the next game," he said.

"We know we can be better. Of course, there's disappointment, frustration, but my job is to guide the players through this, to lead the team and pick them up when they need picking up and tell them when we need to be better.

"But there's no problem with our work ethic, our desire to give everything.

"If we do that for every game, then I'll certainly be happy that we're really rinsing out everything we can and then we'll see where we finish."

Meanwhile, Davies also gave his views on the decision by the EFL to expand the Championship play-offs from four to six teams from the 2026-27 season.

Image source, Shutterstock

Earlier we asked what you make of the news that, from next season, the Championship play-offs will be expanded to include the teams finishing seventh and eighth?

It was announced on Thursday morning that EFL clubs voted in favour of expanding the play-offs from four to six teams.

Here's a selection of your comments...

Josh, Derby: I don't believe this is necessary. I do think that the play-off format should be aligned throughout the top five leagues, but expanding isn't needed. Better distribution of the monies involved and establishing a clear matchday structure to balance various men's and women's leagues would be a better use of everyone's time. This strikes me undue American influence.

Callum, Dartford: I think it's a good thing so teams can push for promotion that thought they wouldn't get near the play-offs.

Cato, Sheffield: If we adopted it to this season, it means that eighth-placed Derby (on 51 points) have about as much a chance of going up as third-placed Millwall (on 63 points). Plus, to accommodate the extra games, would they extend the season into June? I don't like the idea of it at all, and I hope it's short-lived.

Steve, London: Another example of football being ruined, week by week. Don't you dare think about implementing VAR too.

Mark, Stafford: As a Stoke fan, I think it's good news. The season has come to a grinding halt due to being decimated by injuries. Add to that, the quality of what is coming down from the Premier League, it would mean upsets can happen and still allow teams in that mid-table race to dream of greater heights!

Richard, Stansted: Absolutely ridiculous. What is the point of a league format if you are going to make it a bigger lottery to include even more teams at the end of the season? It also brings teams that are even less ready to actually be in the Premier League into scope. But mostly it's the undermining of the league format which makes no sense. I'm a Derby fan - and we look like we would have a chance of benefiting from this if it were in place this season.

Andy, Nuneaton: Anything that expands the opportunities for those outside of the parachute teams is a good thing. We need to get away from this elite view of the Premier League. If it was up to them, they'd stop automatic promotion and relegation and have a system like Rugby Union, where it's based on meeting certain criteria. The eighth-placed club in the Championship getting to the PL? Bring it on!

Ron, Hayling: Money, Money, Money. Players complain about the amount of games they play with the league games and cup competitions so the intention is to play even more at the end of the season. Owners will make some money but that's all that matters!

Barry, Dartford: Yes it's a fantastic for everyone, all the small teams as well as the big boys, to have something to play for. It will give the end of the season something to look forward to.

Benjamin, Poole: I'm a Charlton fan, so it's unlikely we'll come 8th in the Championship any time soon, however, this is ridiculous. More pandering to Americans to make it more likely they'll make money, which is the only thing they care about. Sporting integrity out of the window again. Shame as I felt the Championship was the last bastion of quality and integrity combined. Game has gone.

Broughton, Derby: Absolute ridiculous, put it back to the old days of three straight up, no play-offs. If you don't make top-three you don't deserve to go up.

Julian, London: The worst decision from a footballing point of view ever! The National League teams have been trying to change their system to be like the current EFL system so it seems a very strange decision for the EFL to take. You can finish 8th after 46 games and still get promoted - sporting integrity has been totally lost with this decision. Money over integrity every time!

Birmingham City manager Chris Davies spoke to BBC WM following their 3-1 home defeat by Middlesbrough.

"Very disappointing. We haven't had many nights like this at home since I've been here," he said.

"It was a good start, we really got after them, we were on the front foot, exactly the type of start we wanted to make and then a goal out of nothing really. It's a really soft goal from our point of view.

"It rocked us a little bit and then the second goal was really poor, some wrong decisions, we end up in a ridiculous situation where it's bouncing around our box and they score.

"It gave us a lot to do against a good team and from that point, I wasn't happy with how we responded. We played back too much, we stopped running forward.

"Second half, we came out with more impetus, more forward runs, got ourselves into a great position with a good goal but the third goal was a killer. Once that went in, it was very difficult to get something.

"So yes, a tough one."

Image source, Coventry City FC

You might not hear the old terrace refrain of 'you're not fit to wear the shirt' as often as you used to, but it still has a better ring than 'the shirt's not fit for you to wear'.

Championship leaders Coventry City launched a new collection on Friday, proudly taking inspiration from a kit widely dubbed the 'Worst of All Time'.

A take on the club's infamous brown change strip worn away from Highfield Road from 1978 to 1981, the modern reinvention features what the club calls "a deeper chocolate plum colour with sky blue elements".

Many would suggest it sounds tastier than it looks.

But it's got us thinking... what are actually the worst EFL kits of all time? Let us know which of your club's shirts is hiding in the back of the wardrobe, or even if they were too ugly for you to even part money for them.

We'll collate a list of the biggest eyesores and will give you the chance to vote on the ghastliest of all next week.

Click here to let us know your suggestion, and you can even attach a picture if you really want to convey the horror.

Birmingham saw their eight-game unbeaten league run come to an end at Millwall on Wednesday to leave them five points short of the play-off places before the weekend games.

Blues have still only tasted defeat at St Andrew's once so far this season but only Coventry City (29) have taken more points on the road than second-placed Middlesbrough's 28 in the Championship.

• Birmingham City have lost 11 of their past 15 league games against Middlesbrough (W3 D1), losing each of the last six since a 2-0 win in October 2021.

• Middlesbrough have won their past four away league games against Birmingham, only having longer runs against Rotherham (six between 1956-1962) and Liverpool (five between 1957 and 1960).

• No Championship side has lost fewer home league games than Birmingham this season (one). Their 3-2 loss to Hull in October is their only defeat in their past 41 league games at St Andrew's (W29 D11).

• Middlesbrough have won five of their past eight away league games (L3), as many as they had in their previous 20 (D5 L10).

• Morgan Whittaker has been involved in more away goals than any other Middlesbrough player in the Championship this season (eight – four goals, four assists).

Birmingham City manager Chris Davies said his team failed to compete with Millwall in their 3-0 defeat at The Den.

Davies told BBC Radio WM: "I said to the players that we have to hold our hands up and say we didn't deserve anything from that match. We were well below the competitiveness required when you come to a place like this, firstly to keep clean sheets and then to have a go yourself in the game.

"This is a timely reminder of how challenging this league is, and what you have to do in every single game, and we weren't good enough.

"Their tails were up but it wasn't [a case of] carving us open, a lot of it was setpieces. The first [goal] was off a long throw was a great finish to be fair, an outstanding moment of quality.

"The second was a shot off a post and a rebound. These are really sloppy mistakes from our point of view and the third was a wide free kick, so it wasn't a game where we were having massive problems generally, but when it comes to the basics, the bouncing balls and ugly side to the game, we were short and it cost us."

Image source, Opta

Millwall will seek to return to winning ways as they welcome play-off chasing Birmingham on Wednesday (19:45 GMT).

After taking 10 points from their previous four games, Alex Neil's side went down 3-1 at home to Portsmouth on Saturday, their first defeat in six at The Den, and lie third, six points behind second-placed Middlesbrough.

Blues are seven points back in seventh, two points behind Wrexham in the final play-off spot, after making it eight Championship games unbeaten, taking 18 points from that run, with a 2-1 win at Norwich on Saturday.

• Millwall have won three of their past four home league games against Birmingham (L1), as many as in their previous 11 against them (D4 L4).

• Following their 4-0 win in the reverse fixture, Birmingham are looking to complete the league double over Millwall for the first time since 2013/14.

• Millwall have won just four of their past 17 midweek (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) league games (D4 L9).

• Birmingham have won just one of their past five midweek (Tues, Weds, Thurs) league games (D2 L2), having won 10 of the 12 prior (D1 L1).

• Birmingham's Jay Stansfield has been involved in three goals in his three league games against Millwall (2 goals, 1 assist), though all of these have come in home games.

Image source, PA Media

Birmingham boss Chris Davies claims the Blues' hard-fought 2-1 win at Norwich is one of their "biggest of the season".

The Blues played brilliantly to lead 2-0 through Carlos Vicente and Marvin Ducksch before they had to withstand a second-half fightback to record their first win at Carrow Road since 2002.

Birmingham have climbed to seventh in the Championship, just two points outside the play-offs, and Davies told BBC Radio WM: "You could say that's one of our biggest wins of the season.

"It feels big and I've just been told it's 2002 since the Blues last won here, which is incredible.

"I'm very pleased for the supporters that have travelled here and taken that home with them. I said to the players, it's game by game, step by step, but that feels like a big step today.

"Norwich are in great form, they're at home, their tails are up. I thought in the first half we were exceptional. We could have been, and should have been, out of sight because of the way we played.

"In the second half, we had to weather a bit of a storm and show the other side of football, the grit, the determination to keep the ball out of the net and we did that as well."

Norwich City are currently top of the Championship's form guide with 15 points from their past six games, level with Middlesbrough but having scored more and conceded fewer goals.

The Canaries have moved seven points clear of the relegation zone under head coach Philippe Clement, who has won 11 of his 19 games since being appointed in November.

Birmingham City will arrive in Norfolk two points short of the top six and with only one defeat from their past 10 outings.

• Norwich have lost their past two league games against Birmingham, which is more defeats than they suffered in their previous 19 games against the Blues in league competition (W12 D6).

• Birmingham won 4-1 against Norwich earlier this season (November 2025) and could do the league double over the Canaries for the first time since 2001-02.

• Norwich City have won six of their past eight league games (L2), with no Championship side winning more points than the Canaries since the turn of the year (18, level with Middlesbrough).

• Birmingham have won their past two away league games (2-0 vs both Sheffield Wednesday and Oxford United), as many wins as they recorded across their first 14 games on the road this season. They are looking to win three successive away league matches without conceding for the first time since October 2015.

• Norwich City have won their past two league games, keeping a clean sheet in both (2-0 vs Blackburn Rovers and 3-0 vs Oxford United); they last went on a longer league run without conceding in March 2021 (3 games).

Image source, EFL

Puma's Rainbow ball will return to the English Football League as part of an on-going campaign against discrimination and homophobia.

The special edition rainbow ball was introduced in 2024 to mark LGBTQ+ History Month and will be used at every EFL game from 20 February until 1 March.

Manufacturers Puma will make a donation to Football v Homophobia for every goal scored with their rainbow ball across the Championship, League One and League Two.

The donations will help support education against homophobia and promote inclusion across the season.

The EFL have released a video, external to coincide with the campaign which features a Preston North End fan who was charged with a hate crime following homophobic chanting during an FA Cup fixture against Chelsea.

The rainbow ball will also feature in EFL partner EA Sports' FC 26 video game.

"The rainbow ball is a powerful symbol of the values we uphold across the EFL all season long," EFL chief executive officer Trevor Birch said.

"It not only reflects our longstanding commitment to ensuring the League is representative of all its diverse communities, but also reminds us that we all have a role to play in creating an environment in which everyone feels they truly belong."