Sports Mole previews Sunday's FA Cup clash between Charlton Athletic and Cray Valley Paper Mills, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

Charlton Athletic will kick off their FA Cup campaign on Sunday, when they welcome eighth-tier Cray Valley Paper Mills to The Valley.

The visitors have already progressed through five rounds of the competition to reach this stage and will make the short trip to The Valley aiming to continue their run with a historic upset.

Match preview

Blackpool boss Michael Appleton on August 16, 2022 © Reuters

Charlton Athletic will begin their latest FA Cup journey on home turf on Sunday, as they aim to progress past the first round of the domestic competition for the third straight season.

While they did advance in their first outing last term, the Addicks' campaign would end soon after in the 2022-23 season, as they thrashed non-league Coalville Town 4-1 at The Valley before playing out a 2-2 draw with fourth-tier Stockport County and suffering a 3-1 defeat in the replay away from home.

In the midst of their fourth consecutive season in League One, the London outfit head into the weekend in a mixed run of form following Michael Appleton's appointment as manager in early September, having won five of their 10 games under the new boss while currently sitting 11th in England's third tier after 15 outings.

After returning from the international break with a 4-0 beating of Reading, followed by back-to-back defeats at the hands of Lincoln City and Bolton Wanderers, the Addicks were able to return to winning ways on Tuesday in a trip to Wigan Athletic, as they went 3-0 up through an Alfie May brace and Corey Blackett-Taylor's goal before holding out as Thelo Aasgaard and Stephen Humphrys scored late on for the hosts.

Now on somewhat of a high from that victory, which saw them move within five points of the League One playoff places, Charlton will now turn their focus to FA Cup action and bid to advance to the second round with a victory at home to eighth-tier opposition.

Their visitors, meanwhile, have already enjoyed their dose of FA Cup magic this term and will aim to continue a memorable run at the weekend, having progressed through five stages of qualifying to reach the first round.

The Isthmian League South East outfit began their journey in the preliminary round in August and got past Lordswood, Uxbridge, Northwood and Carshalton Athletic to reach the fourth qualifying round, with three of those contests settled by triumphant replays.

Having gone within one tie of another first-round appearance after a memorable 2020-21 bid, the Millers then hosted Enfield Town in mid-October and prevailed in impressive fashion, as they twice came from behind to eventually win 5-2 thanks to braces from Kyrell Lisbie and Freddie Parker alongside Adam Coombes's goal.

On the back of a victory and a draw in their last two league outings, Steve McKimm's side most recently enjoyed more cup success by beating Chatham Town 2-0 away from home in the FA Trophy first round last weekend, with Denzel Gayle and Malachy Turner on the scoresheet.

Now heading into arguably their biggest outing in recent years and a first ever competitive meeting with the third-tier Addicks, Cray Valley Paper Mills will bid to continue their fairytale cup run with what would be a historic result at The Valley.

Charlton Athletic form (all competitions):

Cray Valley Paper Mills FA Cup form:

Cray Valley Paper Mills form (all competitions):

Team News

Facing a quick turnaround from Tuesday's win at Wigan, and with a trip to league leaders Portsmouth looming next weekend, Michael Appleton may opt to make some rotations to his Charlton Athletic side on Sunday, with star forward Alfie May, who has netted 11 League One goals so far this season, likely to drop to the bench.

Corey Blackett-Taylor may also be afforded a rest, while Chuks Aneke will likely remain sidelined by an injury, leaving room for Slobodan Tedic and Tyreece Campbell to come into the front line from the start, while Charlie Kirk may also be handed an opportunity on the left-hand side.

If key midfielder George Dobson is rested, Scott Fraser should come into the midfield, while Appleton may stick with an unchanged centre-back pairing of Lloyd Jones and Michael Hector in front of goalkeeper Ashley Maynard-Brewer.

Cray Valley Paper Mills should certainly field a similar starting XI to the one that booked their ticket to the first round in the 5-2 win over Enfield Town, and Kyrell Lisbie is bound to lead the line having taken his tally to seven FA Cup goals for the season with a brace in that triumph.

Freddie Parker also netted a brace in that game and should join Lisbie up front, while Denzel Gayle will aim to cause further problems on the right wing in their 4-4-2 setup.

Kiki Mohammed Oshilaja is a mainstay at the back and will again play at the heart of a back four, while Max Ovenden has recently got the nod over Sam Freeman between the sticks and will hope to keep his place for the trip to The Valley.

Charlton Athletic possible starting lineup:
Maynard-Brewer; Asiimwe, Jones, Hector, Thomas; Camara, Fraser, Watson; Campbell, Tedic, Kirk

Cray Valley Paper Mills possible starting lineup:
Ovenden; Williams, Oshilaja, Tumkaya, Asiedu; Gayle, Black, Anau, Ademiluyi; Lisbie, Parker

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We say: Charlton Athletic 4-1 Cray Valley Paper Mills

Cray Valley Paper Mills travel on a high and with little to lost against third-tier opposition and will certainly look to cause problems for Michael Appleton's side.

While they may be no pushovers given the magnitude of this game for the Millers, even with rotations anticipated Charlton should have more than enough to see their non-league visitors off on home turf and progress to the second round.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

Top tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting under 2.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.