Having recently climbed to 22nd spot with a crucial win, Crewe Alexandra will look to further strengthen their position at the bottom end of the League One table on Saturday, when they welcome Shrewsbury Town to Gresty Road.
The hosts moved within four points of safety with a victory over Charlton Athletic on Wednesday, while their visitors come in having won three of their last four league outings.
Match preview
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After a poor start to the League One season, earning just two points from the first seven games, Crewe Alexandra immediately dropped into the League One relegation mix and sat at the foot of the table in December.
David Artell's men have certainly shown far more positive signs recently though, having now won three of their last five league matches, firstly defeating Lincoln City 2-0 before they bounced back from a loss to Sheffield Wednesday by grinding out a 2-1 away victory over Morecambe.
While the Railwaymen were again on the wrong side of the scoreline in the following clash with Burton Albion, before being dumped out of the EFL Trophy by Rotherham United, they again rebounded with an impressive win last time out.
Artell's side hosted Charlton Athletic, and, after leading 2-0 in the first half through Oliver Finney and Mikael Mandron, they eventually saw out a 2-1 win, taking their tally to 21 points from 25 outings, having previously sat on just 12 from the opening 20 matches.
As a result, their standing in the battle for survival has quickly improved, and, while they still find themselves in the drop zone, the Railwaymen now sit just four points adrift of 20th-placed AFC Wimbledon, and they will look to further improve their claim to avoid the drop with a second straight triumph on Saturday.
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To do that, they will have to topple a Shrewsbury side who have not lost any of their last four League One matches, winning three of those.
Similarly to their hosts, the Shrews had a tough start to the campaign, but they have since moved away from the threat of the bottom four, firstly arresting a slump with a 3-1 win at home to Cheltenham Town and an eye-catching 3-0 away victory over Fleetwood Town.
After a goalless stalemate, Steve Cotterill's side returned to winning ways in their most recent league affair, as Matthew Pennington netted the only goal of the game at home to Sheffield Wednesday on the stroke of half time.
While they now head into Saturday's trip on the back of a 4-1 cup defeat to Liverpool, the Shrews have reason to be proud of their efforts at Anfield and will look to ensure their league form does not drop off after the major improvements.
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Team News
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After an impressive showing on Wednesday, David Artell is unlikely to make many changes to his Crewe side for Saturday's game.
Mikael Mandron will come in with renewed confidence after his decisive goal in that game, with veteran forward Chris Porter expected to again be trusted to lead the line.
Elsewhere, Michael Williams, Billy Sass-Davies and Luke Offord have been deployed as a back three recently, and that line should remain unchanged after a strong showing.
Cotterill may also look to field an unchanged starting XI from the one that defeated Sheffield Wednesday, with Matthew Pennington, Ethan Ebanks-Landell and George Nurse forming a solid back line.
Daniel Udoh and Ryan Bowman should again be deployed up front, while Luke Leahy offers further quality going forward from midfield.
Crewe Alexandra possible starting lineup:
Richards; Offord, Williams, Sass-Davies; Mandron, Robertson, Finney, Lowery, Johnson; Long, Porter
Shrewsbury Town possible starting lineup:
Marosi; Pennington, Ebanks-Landell, Nurse; Bennett, Vela, Davis, Leahy, Ogbeta; Bowman, Udoh
We say: Crewe Alexandra 1-1 Shrewsbury Town
With two teams relatively high on confidence, we would not be surprised to see either take all three points but ultimately see a share of the spoils as the most likely outcome.
While Crewe have struggled to build consistency on the back of their crucial recent wins, they certainly look revitalised and will be desperate to earn a result on home turf.
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 Shrewsbury Town win with a probability of 38.01%. A win for Crewe Alexandra had a probability of 35.97% and a draw had a probability of 26%.
The most likely scoreline for a Shrewsbury Town win was 0-1 with a probability of 9.44%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.37%) and 0-2 (6.39%). The likeliest Crewe Alexandra win was 1-0 (9.13%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.36%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with a 7% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted a draw in this match.
