Two sides at opposite ends of the League One table will do battle on Tuesday, as MK Dons play host to Crewe Alexandra.
The hosts are pushing to climb into the automatic promotion places after back-to-back wins, while their opponents are rooted to the foot of the division.
Match preview
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MK Dons have established a strong and consistent run in recent weeks in their bid to earn automatic promotion to the Championship.
Liam Manning's side have now gone unbeaten in their last 13 league outings, earning 10 victories in that time to establish themselves in third spot.
Following a creditable 1-1 draw with second-placed Wigan Athletic, the Dons have recorded consecutive wins heading into Tuesday, firstly beating Cambridge United 1-0 away from home before earning a victory at home to Shrewsbury Town last time out.
Mo Eisa and Scott Twine got on the scoresheet in a dominant 2-0 victory, seeing Manning's men keep Wigan within touching distance and move closer to league leaders Rotherham United.
While the second-placed side have a one-point lead and two games in hand on MK Dons, they would leapfrog Rotherham and move into the top two with a home victory on Tuesday.
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They welcome a Crewe Alexandra side desperate to put an end to their dismal run, having quickly been cut adrift at the bottom of the table.
Having struggled throughout the entire campaign, the Railwaymen have hit a particularly tough spell since mid-January, losing 13 of their last 14 league outings.
After stopping a seven-game losing run with a surprise victory away at Cheltenham Town, David Artell's side were unable to build and remain competitive in the fight for survival, as they have since gone on to suffer another six straight defeats.
They most recently took on Fleetwood Town on Saturday, and, despite Chris Long pulling them level on the stroke of half time, they would fall to a 3-1 loss as Anthony Pilkington and Ellis Harrison hit second-half goals for the visitors.
As a result of their poor run of form in the new year, Artell's men find themselves stuck at the bottom of the division, five points behind 23rd-placed Doncaster Rovers and 12 points adrift of safety.
With only six games left to play, it is surely too late for Crewe to avoid the drop, but they will, at least, be keen to remain competitive and stop their rot against a promotion-chasing side on Tuesday.
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Team News
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MK Dons should come into Tuesday's game with a clean bill of health, and Manning may opt to deploy an unchanged starting XI, although the likes of Theo Corbeanu, David Kasumu and Connor Wickham will be pushing for starts after making substitute appearances at the weekend.
Mo Eisa will continue to be a key man going forward, having netted his 11th league goal of the season last time out, while Scott Twine has been another star man, providing 15 goals and 11 assists in League One from the left-hand side of a front three.
Despite competition from Kasumu, the midfield duo of Josh McEachran and West Ham United loanee Conor Coventry is likely to remain unchanged after their dominant display, with Warren O'Hora, Harry Darling and Dean Lewington forming the back three.
On the contrary to their hosts, Crewe have several injuries to deal with, as stiker Mikael Mandron is out of action alongside Tariq Uwakwe, Billy Sass-Davies and Rio Adebisi.
Chris Long netted an eight league goal of the season in his 26th appearance last time out, and he will keep a place up front, likely alongside veteran Chris Porter.
MK Dons possible starting lineup:
Cumming; O'Hora, Darling, Lewington; Kesler, McEachran, Coventry, Harvie; Parrott, Eisa, Twine
Crewe Alexandra possible starting lineup:
Richards; Offord, Johnson, O'Riordan; Ainley, Finney, Harper, Lowery, Kashket; Porter, Long
We say: MK Dons 2-0 Crewe Alexandra
With more quality in their ranks and momentum on their side, everything points to an MK Dons win on Tuesday.
Manning's men have their sights set on the top two, and they should not be derailed at home to the league's basement side.
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 MK Dons win with a probability of 69.19%. A draw had a probability of 18.6% and a win for Crewe Alexandra had a probability of 12.21%.
The most likely scoreline for a MK Dons win was 2-0 with a probability of 12.21%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (11.22%) and 2-1 (9.63%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (8.85%), while for a Crewe Alexandra win it was 0-1 (4.06%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with a 9.6% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that MK Dons would win this match.
