St James Park plays host to an intriguing battle for the League Two playoff places on Tuesday evening, with Exeter City welcoming Swindon Town.
The visitors leapfrogged the hosts into the top seven at the weekend thanks to their win, with Exeter's unbeaten run being ended in another big tie at the top of the table.
Match preview
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With only three points separating Exeter in eighth, from Sutton United in third, ahead of the midweek action in League Two on Tuesday, an almighty battle for the playoff places in the fourth tier looks to be continuing until the final weeks of the season.
Beginning the weekend in fifth, City dropped three places as a result of their 2-1 defeat at Mansfield Town, who were one of the sides to leapfrog them in the table, along with Swindon.
Matt Taylor's side were highly unfortunate to come away from the One Call Stadium empty-handed however, with the Grecians creating a host of big chances during a highly entertaining game of football.
A poor quality of finishing, and some fine goalkeeping from Mansfield goalkeeper Nathan Bishop, proved the difference though, and Matt Jay's goal deep into second-half stoppage time was only a consolation.
After previously winning six and drawing one of the previous seven matches, Exeter have now picked up just a single point from their last two outings, albeit against two playoff-hopeful sides, but with another big game to come on Tuesday, Taylor will be hoping his side can return to winning ways against some of the division's highest-performing opposition, who they could well end up facing in a potential playoff campaign at the end of the season.
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Meanwhile, Swindon returned to winning ways with a dramatic 2-1 win at Bradford City on Saturday, which saw Jack Payne net the winner from the penalty spot in the sixth minute of second-half injury time.
Harry McKirdy had earlier equalised midway through the first half, just three minutes after Swindon had fallen behind, in an impressive comeback win to lift themselves into the top seven.
With a win at St James Park lifting the Robins into the automatic promotion places, there is plenty on the line between two of the sides in the mix of a thrilling battle for the League Two playoff places.
Although home form has hampered Ben Garner's side's promotion hopes for much of the season to this point, their form on the road has been exceptional, with Saturday's victory being their 10th in the league already this season - a division high.
A lively atmosphere, and the importance of the match, is unlikely to daunt them too much then, as Swindon go in search for a revenge against the side that defeated them 2-1 back at the County Ground in February, which saw Jevani Brown and Timothee Dieng net a quickfire double inside the final six minutes to turn the game on its head in an instant.
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Team News
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Cheick Diabate and Brown are likely to miss out once more for Exeter on Tuesday, after the duo were ruled out of the defeat at Mansfield on Friday.
Sam Nombe, Alex Hartridge and Offrande Zanzala all returned to the bench following recent injuries, but the trio are unlikely to start just yet as they continue to build up their fitness.
Striker Josh Coley will need to be assessed as well, after he was forced off late on in that game due to a slight knock.
As for the visitors, Payne will be pushing for a start after his match-winning penalty off the bench at the weekend.
However, with that brief appearance being his first in two months due to a knee injury, a lack of match fitness may keep the midfielder amongst the substitutes from the start once more.
Aston Villa loanee Louie Barry looks set to miss out once more due to an ankle injury, as will Ben Gladwin, who continues to struggle with a hamstring problem.
Joe Tomlinson and Akin Odimayo will need to be assessed, with the former suffering an injury in the warm up on Saturday and the latter being forced off midway through the second half.
Exeter City possible starting lineup:
Dawson; Sweeney, Stubbs, Grounds; Key, Collins, Dieng, Caprice; Jay; Coley, Phillips
Swindon Town possible starting lineup:
Wollacott; Baudry, O'Brien, Cooper; Hunt, Aguiar, Reed, Iandolo; McKirdy, Davison, Williams
We say: Exeter City 1-1 Swindon Town
With Exeter suffering a slight wobble in their last two games, and Swindon being so impressive away from home, we can see the visitors getting a point from this big game at the top of the League Two table.
Neither will want to risk a defeat so it should be a fairly tight encounter, and therefore we can see the two sides cancelling each other and finishing level on Tuesday.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Exeter City win with a probability of 44.95%. A win for Swindon Town had a probability of 29.5% and a draw had a probability of 25.5%.
The most likely scoreline for a Exeter City win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.38%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.13%) and 2-0 (7.81%). The likeliest Swindon Town win was 0-1 (8.07%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.13%). The actual scoreline of 3-1 was predicted with a 4.6% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Exeter City would win this match.
