Preview: Blackpool vs Port Vale - prediction, team news, lineups

Blackpool and Port Vale will be vying for a place in the second round of the 2025-26 EFL Cup when they go head-to-head at Bloomfield Road on Tuesday evening.

Both teams have had underwhelming starts to their respective league seasons, and a win here could just be the catalyst to spark a turnaround.

Match preview

After avoiding defeat in all four of their pre-season matches, Blackpool headed into the new campaign in decent form and could have hardly made a better start to proceedings as they opened the scoring after just six minutes in their curtain-raiser against Stevenage.

However, Steve Bruce's men would go on to concede three unreplied goals en route to a 3-2 defeat before being on the receiving end of a 4-1 thrashing against Exeter City on Saturday.

Having not lost three straight games since October 2024, the Tangerines will now hope to keep that run going in their first cup assignment of the season in a competition where they crashed out in the third round to Sheffield Wednesday last time out.

Tuesday's meeting will see Blackpool face off against their opponents for the first time since 2023, although the teams are set to play each other at least three times this year following Exeter's return to League One.

Back on home turf for the first of two straight matches in front of their fans, the hosts will be keen to get their season up and running in their upcoming assignment before entertaining the challenge of Huddersfield Town four days later.

Off the back of a disappointing 2023-24 season which saw them relegated to League Two, Port Vale wasted no time returning to the third tier of English football courtesy of a second-place finish.

Darren Moore's men found themselves with a mountain to climb just after 30 minutes in their curtain-raiser away at Rotherham, where they were two goals and a man down before managing to halve the deficit.

The Valiants put on an improved display in their first home outing against Cardiff City on Saturday but had to make do with a share of the spoils from a drab encounter at Vale Park.

Goalscoring continues to be an issue for Port Vale, who have now scored just two goals across their last four matches as last season's top scorer, Lorent Tolaj, continues to misfire, having failed to find the back of the net since April.

Aiming to avoid a second straight first-round exit in the EFL Cup following last year's defeat to Barrow, Tuesday's visitors will need to rediscover their mojo at the top end of the pitch.

Blackpool form (all competitions):

Port Vale form (all competitions):

Team News

James Husband picked up an injury in the aftermath of Blackpool's final warm-up fixture against Doncaster Rovers and has not featured since then.

Daniel Imray (knee) and Albie Morgan are also ruled out for the hosts, with the former still awaiting his debut appearance since joining on loan from Crystal Palace.

Jaheim Headley did not play any part in Exeter's last outing due to a red card he received on the opening weekend, but the defender is available to feature here.

However, Ben Amos, Ben Garrity, Jordan Lawrence-Gabriel and Ruari Paton remain out of contention for the away side through injury.

Blackpool possible starting lineup:

Peacock-Farrell; Coulson, Ihiekwe, Casey, Lyons; Hansson, Brown, Evans, Honeyman; Ennis, Fletcher

Port Vale possible starting lineup:

Marosi; Hall, Humphreys, Debrah; Headley, Shipley, Byers, Clark; Waine, Stockley, Tolaj

We say: Blackpool 1-1 Port Vale (Blackpool win on penalties)

With only a three-day turnover from Saturday's involvement for both teams, they could opt to ring the changes here, but we are expecting an exciting watch nonetheless.

We are also backing Blackpool to get the job done, but via the lottery of penalties.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.