After ending a run of five consecutive defeats in all competitions last weekend, Bolton Wanderers will be aiming to claim consecutive victories when they travel to Shropshire for a League One contest against Shrewsbury Town.
The hosts, meanwhile, are currently enjoying a fine spell of form that has seen them avoid defeat in their last five league games.
Match preview
© Reuters
Currently one of League One's in-form sides, Shrewsbury head into Saturday's contest full of confidence after collecting 11 points from their previous five league matches.
Their upturn in fortunes has seen them climb up the table into 16th place, where they sit a point above Saturday's opponents and six points clear of the relegation zone.
Last weekend, Shrewsbury returned to league action following their FA Cup defeat to Liverpool, and the Shrews played out a goalless draw away to Crewe Alexandra.
Following that stalemate, Steve Cotterill's side will now turn their attention to a home fixture this weekend, with the Shrews bidding to extend their unbeaten home run to nine games in all competitions.
Their recent home success has come courtesy of a resolute backline that has conceded just four goals in their last eight competitive home fixtures, and on Saturday they will be looking to claim their third successive home shutout.
© Reuters
Bolton will be aiming to end Shrewsbury's unbeaten run when they travel to New Meadow and the visitors will be relieved to be entering the contest off the back of a victory.
Having suffered five consecutive defeats in all competitions, the Trotters ended their poor run of form with a 2-0 victory over Ipswich Town last weekend.
With the game goalless heading into the last 20 minutes, Bolton may have been contemplating settling for a point, but goals from Kieran Lee and Oladapo Afolayan gave Ian Evatt's side a precious victory.
With five points separating themselves and the drop zone, the Trotters will be looking to put together a positive run of results to move away from danger.
Having lost their last five competitive away games, Evatt is desperate to see an improvement from his team on the road, especially in the final third as Bolton have failed to score in four of their last five away trips in all competitions.
- L
- W
- W
- D
- W
- D
- W
- W
- D
- W
- L
- D
- D
- L
- L
- L
- L
- W
- L
- L
- L
- L
- L
- W
Team News
© Reuters
Tyrese Fornah joined the Shrews this week, and the Nottingham Forest loanee is expected to be among the substitutes for the Bolton clash.
Shrewsbury have used the same starting XI for the last five matches in all competitions, and Cotterill is expected to use the same lineup once again on Saturday.
With 13 league goals between them this season, the front two of Ryan Bowman and Daniel Udoh will pose the goal threat for the hosts.
Bolton Wanderers are still without the services of Lloyd Isgrove and Andrew Tutte, who are both recovering from hamstring injuries.
The visitors are also missing Xavier Amaechi and Josh Sheehan due to injury issues.
On Friday, Jon Dadi Bodvarsson joined the Trotters on a free transfer, and the Iceland international could be included in the squad for Saturday's contest.
Shrewsbury Town possible starting lineup:
Marosi; Pennington, Ebanks-Landell, Nurse; Bennett, Vela, Davis, Leahy, Ogbeta; Bowman, Udoh
Bolton Wanderers possible starting lineup:
Trafford; Jones, Santos, Johnston, John; Morley, Williams, Lee; Fossey, Bakayoko, Afolayan,
We say: Shrewsbury Town 1-1 Bolton Wanderers
Shrewsbury are currently in a rich vein of form, and they will face a Bolton side bouyed by last weekend's victory. With the two teams separated by just a point in the table, we think that they will cancel each other out on Saturday.
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 Bolton Wanderers win with a probability of 37.33%. A win for Shrewsbury Town had a probability of 36.09% and a draw had a probability of 26.6%.
The most likely scoreline for a Bolton Wanderers win was 0-1 with a probability of 9.95%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.2%) and 0-2 (6.45%). The likeliest Shrewsbury Town win was 1-0 (9.75%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.64%). The actual scoreline of 0-1 was predicted with a 9.9% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 0-1 win for Bolton Wanderers in this match.
