The Priestfield Stadium plays host to a relegation six-pointer in League One as 20th-placed Gillingham and 21st-placed Fleetwood Town go head to head on Monday.
Both sides head into the game separated by just one point in a heated race against the drop, making this an undoubtedly exciting and hard-fought contest.
Match preview
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Gillingham continue to struggle for form in League One as they bottled the lead twice before settling for a 2-2 draw with Cheltenham Town on Friday.
After Vadaine Oliver and Callum Wright scored for either side to end the first half level, Ben Reeves put the Gills ahead in the 59th minute but Kion Etete struck 19 minutes later to restore parity once again.
Gillingham head into Monday's game on a run of three games without victory, picking up two points from the last nine available, while they have managed just one win from their last six outings.
With 39 points from 43 games, Neil Harris's men are currently 20th in League One standings, one point and one place above Monday's visitors in the relegation zone.
On the back of an impressive 10th-placed finish last season, Gillingham's underwhelming campaign so far has been down to their struggles on home turf, where they have won just four games and they hold the joint-poorest record with 19 points from 21 outings.
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Fleetwood Town, on the other hand, failed to move out of the drop zone last time out as they fell to a slender 3-2 defeat against Oxford United at the Highbury Stadium.
Oxford raced into a three-goal lead inside the opening 16 minutes through Nathan Holland, Cameron Brannagan and Billy Bodin, before Ellis Harrison and Cian Hayes scored for the hosts to cut the deficit to one.
This was a second consecutive home defeat for Stephen Crainey's men who were beaten 2-1 by Accrington Stanley on April 9, when Sean McConville and Michael Nottingham scored second-half goals to turn the tie on its head after Harrison broke the deadlock in the 45th minute.
The Cod Army are now winless in all but one of their last 17 outings — losing nine and picking up seven draws — with a 3-1 victory away to fellow relegation battlers Crewe Alexandra on April 2 being the only exception.
However, Fleetwood Town will fancy their chances of moving out of the relegation zone on Monday as they face a Gillingham side who they are unbeaten against in the last five meetings between the teams, claiming two draws and winning each of the last three encounters since 2019.
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Team News
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Harris will be unable to call upon the services of veteran midfielder Danny Lloyd, who came off injured in the game against Ipswich Town back in February.
Thirty-two-year-old midfielder Alex MacDonald has been sidelined since last October and is out of contention for Gillingham, while Mustapha Carayol is set to sit out his eighth straight game through injury.
Fleetwood Town, meanwhile, will take to the pitch without Harrison Holgate after the 21-year-old defender came off injured against AFC Wimbledon last November.
He is joined on the club's injury table by fellow defender Brad Halliday and 25-year-old defender Jordan Rossiter, who has been out of action since last October.
With his strike against Oxford on Friday, Ellis Harrison now has four goals in his last five outings and we expect the Welsh forward to spearhead the attack once again.
Gillingham possible starting lineup:
Chapman; Tucker, Ehmer, Masterson; Jackson, Lee, O'Keefe, McKenzie; Thompson; Kelman, Oliver
Fleetwood Town possible starting lineup:
O'Hara; Nsiala, Clarke, Jules; Johnson, Batty, Camps, Macadam; Lane, Hayes, Harrison
We say: Gillingham 1-1 Fleetwood Town
Gillingham and Fleetwood Town have endured an underwhelming campaign this season and now risk dropping into the fourth tier. Given the stakes of Monday's game, we predict the honours will be shared as we expect both sides to take a cautious approach in a bid to avoid defeat.
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 Gillingham win with a probability of 37.47%. A win for Fleetwood Town had a probability of 35.79% and a draw had a probability of 26.7%.
The most likely scoreline for a Gillingham win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.14%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.19%) and 2-0 (6.54%). The likeliest Fleetwood Town win was 0-1 (9.87%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.71%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with a 7.9% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted a draw in this match.
