Charlton boss picks out the two teams he believes will win automatic promotion from League One

Johnnie Jackson expects Rotherham United and Wigan to finish in the automatic promotion spots in League One.

The Addicks lost 2-1 at the Latics last weekend.

Charlton have a testing run of matches against sides in the chase for at least the play-off places – starting with Oxford United on Saturday, third-placed Milton Keynes on Tuesday, then a trip to Sheffield Wednesday before another Valley date, this time against Sunderland.

“It’s a really tough one [the schedule] off the back of two really tough away games,” said Addicks manager Jackson. “They are all eyeing promotion, so they will be right at it – we need to be too.

“The quicker we can get some bodies back the more it is going to help because we are depleted. We need to find a way of picking up points in the meantime.”

Jackson expects the current top two to be Championship clubs next season.

“Rotherham are probably the strongest team, I think I said that at the time we played them, and I haven’t changed my mind on that,” said Jackson. “Wigan have got a couple of games in hand. They’ll be right up there.

“It just shows….we have competed with both of them. We drew with Rotherham but could’ve beaten them on the night, we finished really strongly, and we were well worth a point at Wigan. It’s frustrating when you see those two are probably going to get promoted and on our day we can definitely compete with them.

“But we find ourselves where we are and they are where they are. We have to address the gulf, looking towards next season, and where we’ve fallen short – how we’re going to try and bridge that gap.”

Oxford, managed by former Addicks boss Karl Robinson, head to SE7 on the back of successive losses. They have taken four points from a possible 15 but did win 7-2 at Gillingham.

“They are a good side – I like what he’s done there,” said Jackson. “He has built a really good team over time. They’ve got a lot of good footballers, good energy and a lot of pace out wide. They have got lots of ways they can hurt you.

“A typical Karl team, really. They want to try and get the ball down and play. They break with pace and in numbers. I’m looking forward to coming up against them.”