Two sides battling in the bottom half of the League One table will square off on Saturday, as Shrewsbury Town welcome Lincoln City to New Meadow.
The hosts have climbed above their visitors thanks to two consecutive eye-catching wins, most recently thrashing league leaders Rotherham United.
Match preview
© Reuters
While they were never overly threatened by relegation, Shrewsbury Town looked set to fall to a disappointing finish in League One, with just 39 points from 37 outings.
However, Steve Cotterill's side have since posted two particularly impressive results to climb up the table, firstly thrashing Morecambe 5-0 on home turf with Daniel Udoh and Luke Leahy helping themselves to braces before Ryan Bowman capped off a strong showing with a 70th-minute goal.
The Shrews then faced the unenviable task of travelling to league leaders Rotherham United last time out, and an Udoh goal quickly followed by an Angus MacDonald red card for the hosts put them in a good position, before Elliott Bennett and Bowman secured an eye-catching three-point haul with second-half strikes.
Thanks to arguably their two most impressive results of the campaign, Cotterill's men have quickly leapfrogged several teams, including Saturday's visitors, to rise to 16th spot, and they will now look for a third straight win to continue their climb.
© Reuters
Lincoln, meanwhile, will aim to move back level on points with their hosts, having had an underwhelming campaign by their own standards after reaching the playoff final last time round.
Despite that, the Imps have seemingly taken positive steps in recent weeks, given the toughness of their schedule, firstly recording wins over Sheffield Wednesday and AFC Wimbledon either side of a defeat to Ipswich Town.
Michael Appleton's team were then narrowly beaten 2-1 away at leaders Rotherham after a valiant effort, as Tom Hopper's 81st-minute goal was not enough to salvage a result.
The Imps most recently hosted sixth-placed Sunderland last Saturday, and, having held the playoff-chasing side to a goalless stalemate, they will look to kick on with a victory at the weekend.
Having quickly dropped from 16th to 18th, despite their relatively pleasing past month, Appleton's men will aim to return to winning ways to move back level with the Shrews and potentially above Cambridge United, depending on other results.
- W
- D
- D
- L
- W
- W
- L
- W
- L
- W
- L
- D
Team News
© Reuters
After their two impressive victories, Shrewsbury could again deploy an unchanged starting XI, with Ethan Ebanks-Landell, Matthew Pennington and Tom Flanagan set to line up as a back three on the back of consecutive clean sheets.
Daniel Udoh will lead the line, having taken his tally to 11 league goals for the season alongside five assists with three in the last two outings.
He will be joined by experienced forward Ryan Bowman, who has also got on the scoresheet in each of the last two matches, moving onto nine goals for the season in England's third tier as a result.
The Imps are also likely to only make minimal changes to their side, with the accomplished duo of Tom Hopper and John Marquis again set to partner up at the top end of the pitch.
They will likely be supported by Chris Maguire, while Swansea City loanees Liam Cullen and Morgan Whittaker will be vying to come back in from the outset.
One enforced switch will come in the midfield, as Manchester City loanee Lewis Fiorini is on international duty for Scotland Under-21s.
Regan Poole has been a key man in the back three, with Arsenal loanee Brooke Norton-Cuffy catching eyes with his performances in a right wing-back role.
Shrewsbury Town possible starting lineup:
Marosi; Pennington, Ebanks-Landell, Flanagan; Bennett, Leahy, Vela, Fornah, Nurse; Udoh, Bowman
Lincoln City possible starting lineup:
Wright; Poole, Jackson, Walsh; Norton-Cuffy, McGrandles, Bishop, Whittaker; Maguire; Hopper, Marquis
We say: Shrewsbury Town 2-1 Lincoln City
Lincoln will not roll over for their hosts, and this certainly should be a close encounter, but the Shrews have been particularly impressive in the last fortnight, and we back them to make it three wins on the bounce with momentum on their side.
Cotterill's men will be keen to continue their climb up the table, and, with home advantage and a front line full of confidence, they should have enough to take all three points.
Top tip
Sam Varley
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 Shrewsbury Town win with a probability of 39.52%. A win for Lincoln City had a probability of 33.63% and a draw had a probability of 26.9%.
The most likely scoreline for a Shrewsbury Town win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.67%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.41%) and 2-0 (7.04%). The likeliest Lincoln City win was 0-1 (9.67%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.75%). The actual scoreline of 1-0 was predicted with a 10.7% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 1-0 win for Shrewsbury Town in this match and our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted the win for Shrewsbury Town.
