Lee Bowyer confirmed Ben Purrington is carrying an injury as he explained why he dropped Beram Kayal and Erhun Oztumer for Charlton’s trip to Wigan.

The pair of midfielders, who were in the team for the 1-0 defeat to Birmingham City, were replaced as Bowyer made four changes for their latest away fixture.

Jonny Williams was drafted in for Oztumer, Darren Pratley came in for Sam Field, Naby Sarr replaced Chris Solly and Jason Pearce was dropped for Deji Oshilaja.

While Bowyer did not expand on the extent of Purrington’s injury, he said it meant he had to “leave Oztumer at home” while Kayal was not deemed fit enough.

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Asked whether the pair were okay, he said: “No because, at the moment, Ben Purrington has got a bit of an injury as well. I had to leave someone at home and I had to cover the defensive situation on the bench, so I left Oztumer at home.

“Kayal, he pulled out after training yesterday. He's saying [the injury] it's his groin so he was not fit for today.”

It is also unclear what the extent is of Kayal’s problem.

Pearce, who was on the substitutes’ bench, did not play any part as Bowyer looked to Chuks Aneke and Macauley Bonne to provide a spark.

The 31-year-old, who spent a season at Wigan before joining Charlton, suffered a knock recently but Bowyer said it was not why he did not get on the pitch.

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He added: “Obviously he's got a bit of a niggle but I have got to look ahead. We've got Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday, next week. I have to try and have everybody as fit as they can possibly be for those three tough games [against Leeds, Swansea and Fulham].

“Naby has come in and Naby is a good player. He's not weakened us in any way. It was just something that I thought that was the right thing to do, really.

“You lose Pearce today and he's out for three weeks and all of a sudden we've got one centre half that has got to try and play Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday. It's difficult.”