AFC Wimbledon will welcome Cheltenham Town to Plough Lane on Saturday with the two sides set to battle it out in the second round of the FA Cup.
The hosts have gone two games without defeat, while the visitors enter the contest unbeaten in their previous eight matches in all competitions.
Match preview
© Reuters
Wimbledon will be aiming to replicate their cup run of the 2018-19 season, when they managed to reach the fifth round of the FA Cup before being eliminated by Millwall.
They were unable to match that impressive run in their last two FA Cup campaigns - dumped out in the first round in the 2019-20 edition and they were eliminated by Crawley Town in the second round last season.
In the first round of this year's competition, the Wombles negotiated a potential banana skin by narrowly beating National League North side Guiseley, with Ollie Palmer netting to guide Mark Robinson's side to a 1-0 victory.
Following that victory, Wimbledon suffered consecutive defeats, but they have bounced back in their last two games with a win over Crewe Alexandra and a draw last weekend against Fleetwood Town.
Their recent home form will only boost their confidence further, as the hosts enter the weekend unbeaten in their last three home encounters.
They face fellow League One opposition on Saturday in the shape of Cheltenham, who will be aiming to emulate last season's success in the FA Cup after they managed to reach the fourth round of the competition before coming up against Manchester City.
Unfortunately for the Robins, the six-time winners of the competition won 3-1 on that occasion, but they will be aiming to face another Premier League team should they overcome Wimbledon on Saturday.
The visitors will be confident of a positive result at the weekend having embarked on an eight-match unbeaten run, which has included three wins in their last four games.
That run included two meetings with Gillingham in the first round of the FA Cup, after drawing 1-1 away from home, Cheltenham edged out the Gills in the replay thanks to a Matthew Pollock goal.
Michael Duff's side were unable to collect their fourth consecutive victory last weekend after drawing 2-2 against Bolton Wanderers, but they will be confident of a positive result on Saturday after avoiding defeat in their last four away games in all competitions.
- W
- L
- W
- L
- L
- W
- D
- D
- W
- D
- D
- W
- W
- W
- D
Team News
After faring well in their last two contests, Wimbledon could name an unchanged side for Saturday's fixture.
Palmer will lead the line for the hosts and the forward will be looking to continue his fine run of form after scoring four goals in his last five games.
There could be a place on the bench for Egli Kaja, who has recently returned to the club after signing a short-term deal.
Meanwhile, Charlie Raglan will be available for Cheltenham after recovering from injury, although he is likely to be on the bench due to a lack of match fitness.
Alfie May has scored three goals in his last two games, and he will partner Kyle Vassell up front on Saturday.
AFC Wimbledon possible starting lineup:
Tzanev; Osew, Heneghan, Csoka, Guinness-Walker; Woodyard, Hartigan, McCormick; Assal, Rudoni, Palmer
Cheltenham Town possible starting lineup:
Flinders; Long, Pollock, Horton; Joseph, Sercombe, Crowley, Chapman, Hussey; Vassell, May
We say: AFC Wimbledon 1-1 Cheltenham Town
Both sides will have dreams of a cup run this season, and with that in mind, we expect this to be a close-fought affair.
Cheltenham have drawn three of their last four away games, and we think that Saturday's encounter will end all square with a replay required to separate the two teams.
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 AFC Wimbledon win with a probability of 40.11%. A win for Cheltenham Town had a probability of 34.85% and a draw had a probability of 25%.
The most likely scoreline for an AFC Wimbledon win was 2-1 with a probability of 8.69%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (8.66%) and 2-0 (6.39%). The likeliest Cheltenham Town win was 1-2 (8.01%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.77%). The actual scoreline of 4-3 was predicted with a 0.5% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that AFC Wimbledon would win this match.
