National League leaders Grimsby Town will be looking to record their seventh league victory of the 2021-22 campaign when they head to Chesire on Tuesday night to take on an in-form Altrincham.
Grimsby have picked up 20 points from their opening nine matches this season to lead the division, while Altrincham are sixth with 15 points to show from their first seven fixtures.
Match preview
Altrincham, who finished 17th in the National League last season, will enter Tuesday's contest off the back of three straight league victories over Notts County, King's Lynn Town and Dagenham & Redbridge.
The Robins have won five and lost two of their seven league games this term to collect 15 points, which has left them in sixth spot in the table, and they have two games in hand over each of the five teams above them.
Altrincham were involved in a five-goal classic away to Dagenham on Saturday, with Josh Hancock and Daniel Mooney both registering in the final exchanges to secure a 3-2 success for Phil Parkinson's side.
The Cheshire outfit were not particularly viewed as potential promotion challengers before the start of the season, but their form in the early weeks of the campaign has certainly been impressive, and they would send out a serious message by beating the league leaders on Tuesday night.
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Grimsby, meanwhile, will enter Tuesday's contest off the back of a 6-0 win over Dover Athletic on Saturday; Luke Waterfall and Ryan Taylor both scored twice for the league leaders, who proved far too strong for their opponents at Blundell Park.
Paul Hurst's side have won six, drew two and lost one of their opening nine league matches of the season to collect 20 points, which has left them at the summit, one point clear of second-placed Dagenham.
Grimsby have only won one of their last three in the National League, though, having been held at Maidenhead Town and lost 3-1 at Bromley ahead of their six-goal success over Dover.
The Mariners finished bottom of League Two last season and were therefore relegated out of the Football League alongside Southend United, who have made a disastrous start to the season.
Grimsby, though, are going well in the early stages of the 2021-22 campaign and will fancy their chances of securing an immediate return to League Two come the end of the season.
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Team News
Altrincham are likely to be without the services of defender David Fitzpatrick, who had to be withdrawn in the first half of the clash with Dagenham, so Shaun Densmore should come into the XI.
Ben Pringle is also pushing for a spot in the side, but head coach Parkinson is unlikely to make many alterations from the team that featured in the 3-2 success in Essex.
Mooney scored the last-minute winner over Dagenham and is expected to operate in support of centre-forward Marcus Dinanga.
As for Grimsby, Ryan Sears impressed on his debut against Dover, and the 22-year-old could keep his spot in a potentially unchanged side on Tuesday night.
Michee Efete, Giles Coke and Enrico Sousa were the three players to drop out of the starting XI for Saturday's contest, but the former is now available after serving a suspension.
Taylor, John McAtee and Will Bapaga were all on the scoresheet in the six-goal success last time out, and it is unlikely that any of the trio will drop out for this game.
Altrincham possible starting lineup:
Thompson; Senior, Mullarkey, Hannigan, Densmore; Moult, Pringle; Mooney, Colclough, Kosylo; Dinanga
Grimsby Town possible starting lineup:
McKeown; Sears, Waterfall, Towler, Crookes; Fox, Hunt, Clifton; Bapaga, McAtee, Taylor
We say: Altrincham 1-1 Grimsby Town
This is a very difficult match to call, as both sides will be full of coincidence heading into the encounter. Grimsby were so impressive against Dover, but Altrincham are a team to be taken seriously this season, and we can see the two teams sharing the spoils in a 1-1 draw.
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 Grimsby Town win with a probability of 53.95%. A draw had a probability of 23.6% and a win for Altrincham had a probability of 22.4%.
The most likely scoreline for a Grimsby Town win was 0-1 with a probability of 10.85%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (9.77%) and 0-2 (9.45%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.22%), while for an Altrincham win it was 1-0 (6.45%). The actual scoreline of 2-3 was predicted with a 2.9% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Grimsby Town would win this match.
