League One Preview: Charlton Athletic vs Rotherham United - Analysis and Insights

The English third division continues with haste as top leagues stop for two weeks for the international break. One of the games coming up this weekend sees Charlton Athletic take on last season's championship whipping boys Rotherham United in a high stakes early season clash.

Ahead of the game, we take an in depth look at both sides, investigating players, strategies and absences that could have a significant say in the final result.

Charlton vs Rotherham Recent Form

Home side Charlton have started the season in fine fettle. Winning their first three league games over Wigan, Leyton Orient and Bolton respectively, they were joint top before a humbling visit to Reading’s Madejski Stadium, where they left on the wrong end of a 2-0 scoreline.

Both Bolton goals conceded vs Charlton

We hand gifted them three points. Just sloppy. Still 43 games to play #bwfc pic.twitter.com/41yD1UN308

— Louis (@LouisWontShutup) August 24, 2024

These league results currently see them occupying the final promotion play-off spot, but with the season having barely got underway, it remains to be seen how important position is at this early stage.

Outside of the league, Charlton also faced fellow League One side Birmingham in the Carabao Cup and fell to a disappointing 1-0 defeat at home stadium the Den, despite Birmingham being reduced to 10 men after a second yellow for Dion Sanderson in the 78th minute.

Despite this disappointment, Charlton will be satisfied with how they have started their season, and their current position has given them the perfect platform to vault themselves into real contention after the international break.

Having been relegated from the second division last season, many expected Rotherham to thrive after dropping down a league, but the 2024/25 season has so far seen them struggle for form.

While they have had good form in the cup competition, beating Crewe Alexandra in the Carabao Cup and Mansfield Town in the EFL Trophy group stage, they have so far managed to win just one game outside of those competitions. They also lost to Fleetwood Town in the Carabao Cup second round to put paid to any prospect of a cup run.

Exeter gave them a frosty welcome with a 1-0 defeat on the opening day, and they followed this result up with a goalless draw with Bristol Rovers to earn their first point of the campaign. Wycombe Wanderers then beat them roundly by a 2-0 scoreline, before the Millers’ finally claimed their first league win of the season over a 10 man Huddersfield Town.

👏 A late winner to get @RotherhamUnited up and running!#EFL | #SkyBetLeagueOne pic.twitter.com/8Y44c6feOn

— Sky Bet League One (@SkyBetLeagueOne) August 31, 2024

Currently sitting in a lowly 17th position, Rotherham will be less than happy with the sequence they have put together so far, and will be searching for anything to inspire an improvement to their form.

Charlton vs Rotherham Goal Scorers

Despite Charlton’s impressive early season form, no player on their team has scored more than one goal so far. The goals have been shared between defender Lloyd Jones, midfielders Greg Docherty and Luke Berry, and striker Matt Godden.

Sharing the goals around is never a bad thing for a team, as it makes them so much more unpredictable, but Charlton will hope that Godden can start finding the back of the net with more regularity.

For Rotherham, striker Jordan Hugill leads the goalscoring charts, although both of these came in the EFL trophy game against Mansfield Town. With only two goals scored in the league, forwards Malik Wilks and Jonson Clarke-Harris share the goal load with one each.

77 | CLARKE-HARRIS FROM THE SPOT! 🎯

🔴 1-1 🔵#rufc | #ForeverTogetherForeverProud pic.twitter.com/dMtTxAxliN

— Rotherham United (@RotherhamUnited) August 31, 2024

With both teams lacking a primary goal scorer so far this season, the onus is on the forward players to take the initiative and find some ruthlessness in front of goal. With both sides experiencing the same issue, it will be interesting to see who turns up on the day.

Charlton vs Rotherham Last Five Meetings

09/04/2022: Rotherham 0-1 Charlton. 02/11/2021: Charlton 1-1 Rotherham. 02/04/2018: Charlton 3-1 Rotherham. 26/08/2017: Rotherham 0-2 Charlton 30/01/2016: Rotherham 1-4 Charlton

Charlton vs Rotherham Team News

Charlton will be without left sided player Josh Edwards, who sustained ligament damage in their victory over Leyton Orient, while the fitness of Luke Berry could be questioned after he was hauled off at half time against Reading through a lack of energy, which was later attributed to illness. The absence of Tennai Watson for that game was put down to the same illness.

Rotherham duo Sean Raggett and Joe Rafferty will be unavailable for the Millers’ as the issues they picked up just prior to the season have still not dissipated.

Charlton vs Rotherham Predicted lineups

Charlton (3-5-2): Mannion (GK), Mitchell, Jones Gillesphey, Ramsay, Docherty, Coventry, Berry, Small, Ahadme, Campbell.

Rotherham (4-3-1-2): Phillips (GK), Odofin, Humphreys, McCart, James, McWilliams, Kelly, Powell, Wilks, Hugill, Clarke-Harris.

Charlton vs Rotherham Player to Watch

Jonson Clarke-Harris has long been known as a football league defender's worst nightmare. Scoring 26 goals in 46 games for Peterborough in the 2022/23 season, he has all the attributes and ability to thrive once again in England’s third division.

However, last season, he only scored nine goals in 34 games, albeit he was somewhat affected by injuries.

Snapped up by Rotherham over the summer, he and many others will be hoping that a change of scenery is what he needs to rediscover his best form. If this does indeed prove to be the case, then Rotherham still have hope of bouncing straight back up to the Championship at the end of the season.