Preview:Lincoln City vs. Port Vale - prediction, team news, lineups

Following three cup matches, Port Vale will return to League One action with a trip to the LNER Stadium for Saturday's clash with Lincoln City.

The hosts currently occupy 16th position in the league table, while the visitors are four points better off in ninth place.

Match preview

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After taking the decision to sack Mark Kennedy, Lincoln have experienced mixed results under interim boss Tom Shaw.

The caretaker manager would have been encouraged to see his side take seven points from his first three games, before his promising start was ended by a league defeat to Oxford United.

Unfortunately for the Imps, another disappointing result followed last weekend, as they gave up a lead to lose 2-1 to fourth-tier Morecambe in the FA Cup.

They managed to bounce back from their early cup exit with a successful outing in Tuesday's EFL Trophy game against Notts County, with goals from Jack Burroughs and Jack Vale guiding the Imps to a 2-0 victory to secure their place in the knockout stage.

The Imps will now turn their attention to Saturday's league game, where they will attempt to close the four-point gap to the playoffs.

Port Vale finished October on a high note after they beat Mansfield Town in the EFL Cup to reach the quarter-finals for the first time in the club's history.

However, the Valiants have struggled to build upon those momentous results, having failed to win their last two competitive matches.

They played out a goalless draw in their FA Cup first-round tie against Burton Albion, before they lost 2-1 in their midweek EFL Trophy clash with Wrexham - a result which denied them top spot in the group, although they will still progress to the knockout rounds.

The busy Port Vale side will face Burton in their FA Cup replay on Tuesday, but before they can focus on that fixture, they will attempt to end an eight-game winless league run in Saturday's clash meeting with Lincoln.

Having failed to win their last four away games against the Imps, the visitors are looking to beat Lincoln in an away match for the first time since December 2009.

Team News

Lincoln are still unable to call the attacking trio of Tyler Walker, Ben House and Reeco Hackett, who are all nursing injury issues.

Danny Mandroiu, Ted Bishop and Alex Mitchell missed the midweek EFL Trophy game, but the trio are expected to feature in the matchday squad for Saturday's contest.

Having started the last two matches, Timothy Eyoma is set to retain his place in the back three, where he will be joined by Adam Jackson and Paudie O'Connor.

As for the visitors, their injury list includes James Wilson, Conor Grant, Mitch Clark, Alex Iacovitti, Dan Jones and Kofi Balmer.

Port Vale will be hoping to have Jason Lowe and Ben Garrity available after the pair missed the midweek defeat to Wrexham in the EFL Trophy.

Captain Nathan Smith will also miss out after being sent off in the first half of last weekend's FA Cup tie against Burton Albion.

Lincoln City possible starting lineup:

Jensen; Eyoma, Jackson, O'Connor; Burroughs, Hamilton, Erhahon, Mandriou; Sorensen, Smith, Adelakun

Port Vale possible starting lineup:

Ripley; Cass, Lowe, Debrah; Sang, Ojo, Arblaster, Plant; Garrity, Devine; Ikpeazu

We say: Lincoln City 2-1 Port Vale

With Port Vale winless in four away league games, the visitors will be desperate to claim all three points on Saturday, but we think that they will have to settle for a point against a Lincoln side that are unbeaten in the last four head-to-head home meetings.

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