Sports Mole previews Saturday's Scottish League Cup clash between Airdrieonians and Annan Athletic, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

Airdrieonians take on Annan Athletic in the Scottish League Cup on Saturday, with the hosts expected to win given that they are a division above their forthcoming opponents.

Scotland's second cup operates with a group-stage format, with eight pools of five teams determining which 12 teams will join the four Scottish sides competing in UEFA competitions this season in the round of 16.

Match preview

Given that Saturday's match against Annan is Airdrieonians' only game in the group against opposition in a lower division than them, Ian Murray will be viewing it as a must-win fixture if his side are to have any chance of progressing to the knockout stage of the competition.

Murray guided Airdrieonians to only two matches away from the Scottish Championship after finishing second in League One last season, but ultimately lost 4-0 on aggregate to Greenock Morton in the playoff final.

Murray's side have had a mixed pre-season so far, beating Lowlands League outfit Cumbernauld Colts with two late stoppage-time strikes before disappointingly losing 3-0 to Clyde in the unofficial NL Broadwood Cup final on Sunday.

Clearly, then, there are defensive deficiencies for the 40-year-old to solve ahead of Saturday's test against Annan, with former Leeds United and Rangers defenders Luke Lyons and Harris O'Connor reportedly close to joining the club after impressing on trial this summer.

Annan, meanwhile, will be hoping to hugely improve on last season's eighth-placed finish in League Two.

The Black and Golds were never in any realistic danger of falling out of the Scottish league system due to Brechin City's dreadful form throughout the season, but 22 points from 22 games was a pretty poor return for Peter Murphy's side.

The 40-year-old has been in charge of the club since 2017, so will be under pressure to deliver a better campaign this time around, with Saturday's trip to Airdrieonians a superb test of how competitive they can be against higher-ranked clubs.

Seven players have already been signed this summer, with eight departing, so it remains to be seen how such a serious squad turnover impacts on the team's performances.

Team News

Four trialists started for Airdrieonians in their 3-0 defeat to Clyde on Sunday, but none of them will be available for League Cup or other official matches until they sign for the club.

New signings Rico Quitongo, Scott Agnew, Craig Watson and Jordan Allen also started in the defeat and could retain their places as Murray looks to fully integrate them into his tactical blueprint.

Annan fans, meanwhile, will hope to see several new faces in their team's starting lineup, too.

Four of the players who started in Annan's final league fixture of last season have since departed the club, which could pave the way for Chris Johnston, Dominic Doherty, Roan Steele and Ryan Adamson to make their first starts for the club.

Airdrieonians possible starting lineup:
Currie; Wardrop, Walker, Watson, Quitongo; Fordyce, Agnew; Ritchie, Easton, Allan; Gallagher

Annan Athletic possible starting lineup:
Steele; Adamson, Douglas, Swinglehurst, Love; Fleming, Johnston, Wallace; Doherty, Smith, Christie

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We say: Airdrieonians 2-0 Annan Athletic

Given that Airdrieonians were second in League One and Annan were third from bottom in League Two last season, we would expect a comfortable home win here.

Murray will be fully aware that his side require a win to have a realistic chance of reaching the knockout stages in this competition, so they are likely to attack from the outset.

Top tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting under 3.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.

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 Airdrieonians win with a probability of 50.6%. A win for Annan Athletic had a probability of 24.88% and a draw had a probability of 24.5%.

The most likely scoreline for an Airdrieonians win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.79%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.58%) and 2-0 (8.89%). The likeliest Annan Athletic win was 0-1 (7.07%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.64%).