'Too good' - Birmingham City star sends feisty message to Charlton Athletic, Bolton Wanderers and rivals

Charlton Athletic face Birmingham City this weekend in what could prove an important clash in the race for League One promotion this season and it's fair to say that the Midlands outfit are confident of achieving their goals this season.

The Blues, who were relegated from the Championship last season, splurged a record-breaking amount of money during the summer window. Chris Davies' side snapped up Alfie May from the Addicks as well as spending a division record £15 million on bringing Jay Stansfield in from Fulham.

Birmingham City sit top of League One

Christoph Klarer, Willum Willumsson, Emil Hansson, Lyndon Dykes, Alex Cochrane, Ayumu Yokoyama, Tomoki Iwata, Marc Leonard, Bailey Peacock-Farrell and Scott Wright all also arrived at St Andrew's for a fee this summer in a head-turning window of business.

That investment has proved well spent so far with the club sitting top of the table unbeaten on 19 points from their first seven matches. Birmingham City have only failed to win one match, a 1-1 draw against Reading on the opening day of the season. Next up is a trip to The Valley this weekend to take on Charlton Athletic.

The Addicks also enjoyed a busy summer of transfer activity, but were more restrained with their spending, and will hope to challenge for promotion after last season's relegation dogfight. Four wins from the opening eight currently holds Nathan Jones' side eighth in the table, six points off the leaders.

‘We’re too good for League One,’ says Birmingham City captain

Birmingham City look the team to catch for promotion hopefuls, which include the recently relegated Huddersfield Town, buoyant Wrexham and last season's third-placed Bolton Wanderers. Following last weekend's 3-2 comeback against Peterborough United, Blues captain Krystian Bielik sent a strong message to any challengers.

He said: "It seems like we always find a way to come back - we got two big punches in the face but we came back. Full credit to the players, the manager and coaching staff. We're working so hard for these sorts of games when it's not going your way in the beginning but we find a way to win.

"We're League One but I don't think there are any players in this team who are League One players. All of them are at a higher level. In six months time, we'll be a Championship team and a different animal.

"We stay humble and keep our feet on the ground and we don't want to choke on it. But the reality is we're too good for League One."