The bottom two teams in Northern Group H of the EFL Trophy will lock horns in Nottinghamshire on Tuesday evening, as Mansfield Town welcome Newcastle United Under-21s.
Mansfield and Newcastle Under-21s are third and fourth respectively in the section, with the two sides both losing to Harrogate Town and Sheffield Wednesday in their opening two fixtures.
Match preview
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Mansfield made it back-to-back wins on Saturday afternoon, as they managed to advance to the second round of the FA Cup courtesy of a surprise 1-0 win over Sunderland, with Rhys Oates's early effort proving to be the difference between the two sides at the Stadium of Light.
Nigel Clough's side also beat Tranmere Rovers 2-0 in League Two at the end of October, with the result leaving them in 20th position in the table, two points above the relegation zone.
It would be fair to say that the EFL Trophy is down the list of priorities for the club this season, and they have found it difficult to compete in this particular section, opening with a 3-1 defeat at Harrogate at the end of August before going down 2-1 at home to Sheffield Wednesday towards the start of October.
Mansfield have actually lost five of their last six matches in this competition and will have their eyes firmly on their next League Two contest, which comes away to Stevenage on November 13.
There will still be pride at stake on Tuesday night, though, and having posted victories in their last two matches, the home side will be keen to put another win on the board in front of their own supporters.
Newcastle Under-21s, meanwhile, were on the end of a 3-0 defeat at Sheffield Wednesday in their opening match of the competition at the end of August, with the Owls scoring twice in the early stages of the second period to take the match away from the visitors.
Gary Caldwell's side were then beaten 2-0 at Harrogate on October 5, with Lloyd Kerry and Danilo Orsi on the scoresheet for the League Two club.
Newcastle Under-21s have now lost each of their last nine matches in the EFL Trophy and will be desperate to end that disappointing run of form on Tuesday night, proving that they can compete at this level in the process.
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Team News
Mansfield boss Clough will certainly make changes to the side that started the impressive 1-0 win over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on Saturday afternoon.
George Shelvey is in line for another outing between the sticks, while James Clarke, Danny Johnson, Tyrese Sinclair and Jason Law will be among those hoping to earn spots in the first XI.
Jordan Bowery came off the bench in Saturday's FA Cup success, meanwhile, and will be another hoping to earn some minutes in the EFL Trophy fixture.
As for Newcastle Under-21s, their starting side is expected to be similar to the one that took to the field for the first whistle against Harrogate in North Yorkshire on October 5.
The visitors should again line up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Dylan Stephenson and Joe White both expected to feature in the final third of the field.
Mansfield Town possible starting lineup:
Shelvey; Clarke, Cooper, Rawson, Burke; Charsley, Ward, Law, Quinn; Sinclair, Johnson
Newcastle United Under-21s possible starting lineup:
Gillespie; Oliver, Wiggett, Savage, Cross; Young, Brookwell; White, Anderson, Scott; Stephenson
We say: Mansfield Town 2-1 Newcastle United Under-21s
Mansfield's team will be very different to the one that started on Saturday, but the hosts will still fancy their chances of overcoming a youthful Newcastle Under-21s outfit, and we are expecting Clough's side to pick up their first three points of this season's tournament in this match.
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 Mansfield Town win with a probability of 82.63%. A draw had a probability of 11.7% and a win for Newcastle United Under-21s had a probability of 5.69%.
The most likely scoreline for a Mansfield Town win was 2-0 with a probability of 12.34%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 3-0 (11.76%) and 1-0 (8.63%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (5.54%), while for a Newcastle United Under-21s win it was 0-1 (1.94%). The actual scoreline of 6-3 was predicted with a 0.1% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Mansfield Town would win this match.
