Tranmere Rovers and Mansfield Town square off at Prenton Park on Friday evening with the opportunity to move into third position in the League Two standings.
However, there are contrasting moods at the respective clubs, with Tranmere on a five-match winless streak and having played three games more than the visitors, who are level on points with their hosts.
Match preview
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Although they still sit down in sixth position in the table, Mansfield are currently on one of the most impressive runs in English football, winning 14 of their last 18 league fixtures.
Nigel Clough recently witnessed his team post three draws in four matches, but the Stags have since responded with victories against Bradford City and Exeter City.
The competitiveness of the division means that anything could happen going forward, although there is a strong argument that Mansfield are favourites for automatic promotion now that they only trail second-placed Northampton Town by four points with three games in hand.
Goals remain somewhat of an issue with Mansfield not scoring more than twice in their last seven outings, but Newcastle United loanee Matty Longstaff has chipped in with strikes in his last two appearances.
Ahead of an extended run-in, the Nottinghamshire-based club have played four fewer games on their travels, and with just four away wins coming from 14 outings, they have plenty of work ahead of them to gain a spot in League One for next season.
The same can be said of a Tranmere outfit who appear to have lost their way, posting four defeats and conceding 10 times from just five matches.
Still just a point adrift of third spot, there are reasons to remain optimistic, but Micky Mellon will be concerned with how seven goals have been shipped at Newport County and Northampton Town.
On a more positive note, a team which has struggled for goals all season have netted five times in three games, even with none of this squad still not moving past five efforts for the campaign.
While much has been made of Tranmere's form of late, four wins have come from their last six outings on Merseyside, the only defeat coming against leaders Forest Green Rovers.
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Team News
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Mellon will almost certainly make several changes to his Tranmere side, with Paul Glatzel likely to return to the starting XI for Jake Burton.
Callum McManaman may also drop down to the substitutes' bench, allowing for Josh Hawkes to start at left wing-back and Kieron Morris move to the opposite flank.
Sam Foley's extra experience could also see him get the nod over youngster Lewis Warrington in midfield.
While Clough may be prepared to stick with the Mansfield starting lineup from the win against Exeter, there is scope to make an alteration.
Longstaff has been deployed in both central midfield and the right flank since his arrival, and George Maris is on standby if the Newcastle man moves further forward.
Tranmere Rovers possible starting lineup:
Doohan; Dacres-Cogley, Clarke, Knight-Percival; Morris, Foley, O'Connor, Hawkes; McPake; Glatzel, Hemmings
Mansfield Town possible starting lineup:
Bishop; Akins, Rawson, Hewitt, McLaughlin; Longstaff, Stirk, Quinn; Bowery, Oates, Murphy
We say: Tranmere Rovers 1-2 Mansfield Town
Given their home record, it would be naive to write off Tranmere, despite the contrasting form of the two clubs. Nevertheless, we can only back Mansfield to come out on top in this contest, potentially by the odd goal in three as they continue to move closer to the automatic places.
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 Tranmere Rovers win with a probability of 38.51%. A win for Mansfield Town had a probability of 32.71% and a draw had a probability of 28.8%.
The most likely scoreline for a Tranmere Rovers win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.55%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (7.84%) and 2-0 (7.39%). The likeliest Mansfield Town win was 0-1 (11.31%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.32%). The actual scoreline of 3-2 was predicted with a 1.6% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Tranmere Rovers would win this match.
