After a two week break due to international fixtures, the Addicks return to action against play-off chasing Birmingham at The Valley on Saturday.

Charlton’s survival chances look all but extinguished, but Jose Riga will be trying to conjure a winning run from his beleaguered troops.

He has some good news on the injury front, but he has also lost one of his front line‎ strikers, as he explained to the assembled press corps on Thursday:

‎”The medical staff did a great job during the break and what we had hoped they would, I have a few more options back now.

“Chris Solly, Jordan Cousins and Patrick Bauer are all back in full training, though that of course, does not necessarily mean that they are ready to start a match.

“For Patrick in particular, it has been a long time since he was not injured. We need to be careful and to be prudent with some of them.

“They will need some time and we have three games in a week coming up so it is very important for us to have more options and possibilities. It is up to us to do things in a way so that we can use all of them when we need fresh legs, fresh brains and a fresh mindset. That is very important.

“Ahmed Kashi is back out on the pitch, too, and is able to do some physical work, which is good also. We need everybody fit and everybody committed because we start a mini-sequence of three games that are very, very important for us, and certainly the first one,”‎ said the head coach who went on to speak about his players who had been on international duty:

“Johann (Gudmundsson) is ok. He played half of Iceland’s first game and 90 minutes in their second one, where they won against Greece. I’ll have to have a discussion with him about whether he is completely fit but I think he is going to be fine.

“It is also quite good when you come back from an international break with a win.

“About Reza (Ghoochannejhad), unfortunately he picked up a physical problem with his hamstring and is now injured. We don’t know exactly what he has done yet but certainly he will not be available on Saturday, so we have had some good news, some bad news.”

‎Blues skipper, Michael Morrison, is assured of a warm welcome on his return to The Valley. Morrison was controversially deemed surplus to requirements by former boss, Bob Peeters.

It seems‎ unlikely that Patrick Bauer will be used after a three month lay off, but Chris Solly could be on the bench. Jordan Cousins could return to partner Alou Diarra or Johnnie Jackson in the engine room.

Riga also has the option to play all three to protect his back four. Ademola Lookman is likely to get another start, and if Riga starts the youngster on the left, Yun Suk-Young will challenge Morgan Fox for the left-back berth.

Nick Pope will again be preferred to Stephen Henderson in goal, and Callum Harriott has impressed recently in his front‎ running role.

The Addicks could look like this:

Pope; Motta, Fanni, Teixeira, Fox; Gudmundsson, Cousins, Diarra, Jackson, Lookman; Harriott.

Subs: Mitov, Solly, Lennon, Ba, Poyet, Yun, Makienok.

The referee will be Lancashire’s Paul Tierney.

April is very much the business end of the season and there is little room for error. Former Charlton defender, Gary Rowett, will be confident of keeping Birmingham’s promotion push alive by taking all three points.