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Former EFL star Adrian Clarke expects to see Birmingham City ‘completely control’ the League One clash with Charlton Athletic this afternoon and has pointed to a statistic to back up his view.

 

Blues have started the new League One campaign in superb form, making good on their summer spending, and sit at the top of the table.

 

Chris Davies’ side are threatening to run away with the division and are set to take on Charlton, who have promotion ambitions of their own, this afternoon at the Valley.

 

 

Charlton have suffered three losses on the spin and some degree of pressure is building on boss Nathan Jones.

 

Clarke expects Charlton to have it tough against Birmingham as he feels Blues will dominate.

 

 

He pointed to a key statistic to show how the game could at times be reduced to a training exercise.

 

“I expect Birmingham to completely control this game and Charlton are going to have to absorb a lot of pressure; they are good at that”, Clarke said on What The EFL.

 

 

“I looked at the passes, Birmingham currently make 268 more successful passes per game than Charlton.

 

“That’s a lot, an awful lot.

 

“They are making over 600 and Charlton 350 if they are lucky, so this is going to be a training ground exercise at times.”

 

The two teams met in the EFL Cup earlier this season, with Birmingham earning a slender 1-0 win at Charlton.