Charlton Athletic aim to progress into the next round of the Papa John’s Trophy clash as they face Aston Villa under-21’s

The Addicks will look to bounce back from Saturday’s disappointing loss at Shrewsbury against a young Villa outfit that includes the likes of Cameron Archer, Carney Chukwuemeka and Aaron Ramsey. 

It has been a difficult season for Charlton, who sacked manager Nigel Adkins back in October after three wins in 14 league matches. Off the field issues have plagued the club but the League One relegation zone was below the expectations of the club, fans and the players. 

Since the dismissal of Adkins, Johnnie Jackson has taken the helm and turned things around, earning the same amount of wins as Adkins from his first four games in charge.

The Addicks still, however, find themselves languishing in 16th in League One and 11 points off the play-offs. Charlton were booted out of the Carabao Cup at the first hurdle by local rivals AFC Wimbledon, but are still in the FA Cup following a First Round victory over Havant & Waterlooville. 

The Papa John’s Trophy has seen goals galore at the Valley. In late August, Charlton dismantled a woeful Crawley Town side 6-1 with Josh Davison on the double and 18-year-old Mason Burstow on the scoresheet. This was followed up a month later with a comfortable 4-1 victory over Southampton under-21’s.

With progression already confirmed, the Addicks slumped to a 1-0 defeat at The Breyer Group Stadium against Leyton Orient. 

Aston Villa under-21’s are arguably one of the most impressive team’s the competition has seen since the format change back in 2016/2017.

They progressed into the next round after winning all three of their group games as they dispatched Wycombe Wanderers, Burton Albion and MK Dons.

19-year-old Cameron Archer scored a whopping six goals adding to his hat-trick against Barrow and his strike against Chelsea in the Carabao Cup for Villa’s first-team.

Alongside the great form of Archer, players like Carney Chukwuemeka and Aaron Ramsey, who are also knocking on the door of the first team but have been heavily involved in the Papa John’s Trophy, will likely continue to feature in the competition.

Josh Davison has become a much more regular feature for Charlton in the month of November so it will be intriguing to see if this is maintained in this game or whether, in fact, Jackson opts to rest the 22-year-old.

With Charlton’s languishing position in the league, it will be interesting how seriously Charlton manager Jackson takes this game as there could be a genuine path to Wembley and some silverware to make this season far easier to take for the fans.

As for this group of Aston Villa players, they will genuinely believe that with the talent they have, they can go further in this competition than any other under-21 side has.

A victory at the Valley would be another big scalp and would certainly send a message to the rest of the teams in the competition that they mean business.  

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