League two outfit Forest Green Rovers get their EFL Cup campaign underway on Tuesday when they welcome Championship side Bristol City to the New Lawn.
The clash is the second competitive game of the new season for both sides, who kicked off their respective domestic seasons last time out.
Match preview
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Bristol City were held to a 1-1 stalemate in their 2021-22 Championship season-opener versus Blackpool at the Ashton Gate Stadium on Saturday.
Nigel Pearson's men took the lead on the stroke of the interval through Chris Martin and were on course to see out the victory before Shayne Lavery netted a 93rd-minute equaliser to ensure a share of the spoils.
Next up for the Cider Army is the first of three consecutive matches away from home, starting with the trip to Nailsworth.
Tuesday's visitors came out on top in the only previous meeting between the sides back in 2019, when they overturned a 2-1 half-time deficit to claim a 4-3 triumph.
Following a third-round exit in the competition last time out, Bristol City will be looking for a deeper run into the latter stages this time around.
Three months on from their heartbreak in last year's playoffs, Forest Green Rovers got the better of Sutton United in a 2-1 victory to kick off their league season with three points.
With his strike on the half-hour mark, Mathew Stevens gave Rob Edwards's men a first-half lead which was wiped out in the 69th minute by Omar Bugiel, but Ebou Adams had the final say on the game with his stoppage-time winner.
The Green Devils are looking to progress into the second round of the EFL Cup for the third time in four years after defeating Charlton Athletic and Swindon Town in 2018 and 2019 respectively.
However, Tuesday's hosts fell at the first hurdle last term to Leyton Orient and will be keen to avoid suffering a similar fate
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Team News
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Antoine Semenyo missed all of his side's pre-season friendlies as well as their opening league match with a muscle problem and is ruled out for the visitors.
Robbie Cundy continues his spell on the sidelines due to a knee injury which has kept him out of action for the past four months.
Andreas Weimann was on target for Bristol in the last encounter between Tuesday's opponents, where he coolly converted a second-half penalty.
Following his strike versus Sutton, 23-year-old Mathew Stevens has now scored five goals in his last six outings for the home side.
Rob Edwards is not expected to make any changes to his 3-4-1-2 system from last time out as he goes in search of a second win in as many games since taking over.
Forest Green Rovers possible starting lineup:
McGee; Godwin-Malife, Moore-Taylor, Bernard; Cadden, Stevenson, Hendry, Wilson; Adams, Matt, Stevens
Bristol City possible starting lineup:
Bentley; Vyner, Baker, Atkinson, Dasilva; King, James, Scott; O'Dowda, Weimann, Martin
We say: Forest Green Rovers 1-2 Bristol City
The away side are favourites for the contest, as their level of experience at this stage would suggest. While the hosts will certainly be no push-overs, we expect Bristol to claim a narrow victory and advance into the second round.
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 Forest Green Rovers win with a probability of 43.2%. A win for Bristol City had a probability of 30.41% and a draw had a probability of 26.4%.
The most likely scoreline for a Forest Green Rovers win was 1-0 with a probability of 11%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.85%) and 2-0 (7.77%). The likeliest Bristol City win was 0-1 (8.89%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.54%).
