Charlton Athletic confirm January transfer plans as Birmingham City title charge handed triple injury blow

It's been a fruitful festive period for Charlton Athletic with Nathan Jones managing to turn a difficult run of form into reasons to be positive ahead of the New Year.

A 2-1 victory over Wycombe Wanderers on Sunday made it three wins in three League One outings for the London outfit and just one defeat in their last seven.

It's Crawley Town and Reading up next for the Addicks as the fixtures come quickly. Here's your Monday League One round-up.

Charlton Athletic confirm January transfer plans

Charlton Athletic have been told to expect a quiet January transfer period by manager Nathan Jones after a busy couple of windows at The Valley. The Addicks brought in nine new faces at the start of the year and then had 11 players come through the door in the summer.

As a result, January will be a period of consolidating the current squad for Jones and Charlton Athletic. The Welshman told the South London Press: “We don’t expect it to be really busy because we signed a lot of players in the last window – we had a big turnover which takes time to see the best of all those players.

“We’ve had a lot come in and a lot leave – we’ve had injuries – so it is not going to be a big turnover this window. We need one, maybe two, positions covered but definitely one – and we’re going to concentrate on that.

“Then it is down to us as a management and coaching staff to get the best out of the players we have got in the building and to get the ones who are injured back. Once we do that then we can continue our building process. Last year they signed a lot in the window – we won’t be doing that because there is no need.

“What I have to ensure is that everyone we signed in the summer starts performing at the levels we know they can and the levels that were why they were brought here.”

If there is one position that does see a new signing come in, it could be on the right flank with Kayne Ramsay and Tennai Watson both nursing injuries. Jones admitted that his side had been 'compromised' in that position ahead of the opening of the January window.

Birmingham City handed triple injury blow

Birmingham City have seen their rampant promotion charge handed a triple blow over the festive period with Chris Davies having to contend with injuries to three first team stars.

The Blues dropped points against Blackpool at hover over the weekend and the scoreline wasn't the only disappointment. Davies confirmed injuries to Lee Buchanan, who was stretchered off the pitch, as well as Christoph Klarer and Emil Hansson.

Davies told BirminghamLive: “There’s no definitive news [on Buchanan] but it didn’t look good. I’ve seen a picture of it and it doesn’t look good. He was in a lot of pain.

“It’s a real shame for someone who has worked so hard to get back to fitness, to have another big setback like that is really disappointing. We will have to see how he goes and obviously he will have a scan in the next few days.

“Emil has another muscular injury, the severity I don’t know. It was innocuous, just jogging back into position I think and he felt something. It’s disappointing because we had a little flurry of injuries that we seemed to come through but we’ve picked some up today. Christoph Klarer got a knock as well. That’s why we’ve got the squad.”

Steve Bruce makes League One prediction

Having frustrated Birmingham City at St. Andrew's, Blackpool boss Steve Bruce was still adamant that the Midlands outfit would cruise to the League One title this season. The Blues remain top of the table, one point above Wrexham but with two games in hand.

Former Birmingham City boss Bruce is the latest manager to pile the pressure on the big spenders in the division by predicting big success. He said: “I said it at the start of the season, I wouldn’t be surprised if they win it by 15 or 20 points. I’m delighted for the club. I spent nine years here in a career of 40-odd years and I had really enjoyable times here.

“I’m pleased there’s a decent board and you can see that by the way the ground is. It can only go one way and I’m very, very pleased it’s about to take off.

“You just have to walk into the ground and see the new seats. Let’s be fair, the place was falling to bits wasn’t it? Fair play to the people who’ve invested.”