A League One basement battle takes place at the Priestfield Stadium on Tuesday night as Gillingham play host to AFC Wimbledon.
Neil Harris's men suffered a comprehensive 2-0 defeat to Plymouth Argyle in their most recent battle, while the visitors' winless streak continued with a 4-0 drubbing away to Bolton Wanderers.
Match preview
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After opening the 2021-22 season with a measly tally of three wins from their first 28 games, claiming 1-0 victories from meetings with Crewe Alexandra and Cambridge United was a welcome treat for Harris's side in the early stages of February.
However, Gillingham have since been given a harsh reality check as Plymouth Argyle marched to a simple 2-0 win at the Preistfield Stadium on Saturday, as Jordon Garrick opened the scoring for Steven Schumacher's side before Luke Jephcott's penalty sealed the three points.
If Gillingham were not already in a relegation dogfight, they most certainly are now, as Harris's side enter the midweek round of fixtures down in 22nd and five points adrift of the safety of 20th spot, with upcoming opponents Wimbledon boasting a game in hand.
Harris has insisted that what he has witnessed on the training pitches will soon translate into results when it matters, but Gillingham are running out of time to salvage their third-tier status, and tallies of 12 goals scored and 30 conceded represent the worst home records in the division all season long.
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Gillingham's paltry victory tally does not make for pleasant reading for the home crowd, but Wimbledon have an abysmal winless run of their own to try to end, with Mark Robinson's side still searching for a first triumph since the turn of the year.
Wimbledon have now gone 14 games without a win in all competitions after a humiliating 4-0 loss to Bolton at the weekend, as Amadou Bakayoko, Oladapo Afolayan, Dion Charles and Jon Dadi Bodvarsson put the Dons to the sword in convincing fashion.
Robinson admitted that it was "men against boys" at the University of Bolton Stadium, and Wimbledon are slowly but surely slipping ever closer to danger and are now just one point clear of the trapdoor in 20th place, with Morecambe just one point behind.
Defeat to Bolton also marked a fifth loss from six on the road in all tournaments for the visitors, who may take some positives from their recent record against Gillingham, as they have lost just two of their last 11 League One meetings with the Gills and drew 1-1 with their hosts earlier in the campaign.
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Team News
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Gillingham are already without long-term absentees Danny Lloyd and Alex MacDonald due to knee injuries, while Daniel Adshead has returned to parent club Norwich City with a foot fracture.
Mustapha Carayol has suffered a setback in his recovery and may miss out again, and there is continued uncertainty over Gerald Sithole as he battles his way back from a hamstring problem.
Ben Reeves did return to action off the bench at the weekend to boost Harris's midfield options, and the former Argyle man could now push for a starting role in place of namesake Ben Thompson.
Meanwhile, Wimbledon's Ayoub Assal serves the second game of a two-match ban here, but Luke McCormick will make a timely return from his own suspension to take his place in the middle of the park.
Jack Rudoni and Anthony Hartigan both occupy places in the treatment room alongside Alex Woodyard, Henry Lawrence and Aaron Pressley, with all three nursing hamstring issues.
Despite his depleted options, Robinson will surely ponder more changes after Saturday's embarrassing loss, as Aaron Cosgrave and Daniel Csoka - who had a recent heart scare - wait in the wings.
Gillingham possible starting lineup:
Chapman; Masterson, Ehmer, Tucker; McKenzie, O'Keefe, Lee, Jackson; Reeves; Oliver, Dickson-Peters
AFC Wimbledon possible starting lineup:
Tsanev; Osew, Nightingale, Heneghan, Brown; McCormick, Marsh, Guinness-Walker; Williams, Cosgrove, Mebude
We say: Gillingham 1-0 AFC Wimbledon
Given Wimbledon's wealth of absentees and severely depleted morale after the heavy loss to Bolton, the stage is set for Gillingham to boost their survival hopes at the expense of their opponents'.
Robinson will be demanding an immediate response from Saturday's loss and will at least have the influential McCormick back in his ranks, but we are still backing the hosts to edge this basement battle.
Ben Knapton
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 Gillingham win with a probability of 41.04%. A win for AFC Wimbledon had a probability of 30.78% and a draw had a probability of 28.2%.
The most likely scoreline for a Gillingham win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.57%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.25%) and 2-0 (7.88%). The likeliest AFC Wimbledon win was 0-1 (10.48%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.15%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with a 10% likelihood.
