Aiming to put consecutive League Two away defeats behind them, Chesterfield return to the Technique Stadium on New Year's Day, keen to get the better of fellow promotion hopefuls MK Dons in gameweek 24.
Paul Cook's side lost back-to-back fixtures to close out 2024 and are motivated to return to winning ways to possibly return to the league's top seven places after Wednesday's encounter, at the expense of an opponent winless in four matches.
Match preview
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Chesterfield and MK Dons desire to start 2025 better than they finished 2024, having gone winless in six games combined heading into January 1's match-up in Derbyshire.
Last term's National League champions were defeated at Fleetwood Town (2-0) and Bradford City (2-1), and both losses saw Town slide to ninth in the table, albeit just two points adrift of a coveted top-seven spot.
Given the home side's solitary success in five away matches, Cook will welcome his side's return to home turf in round 24 due to Chesterfield's three-game winning league run in front of their supporters.
Those wins over Barrow (1-0), Tranmere Rovers (3-0) and AFC Wimbledon (1-0) have come without conceding a goal, highlighting the Spireites' current strength in Derbyshire.
A fourth consecutive home win could take Cook's side (34 points) as high as second place, with Notts County in second just three points ahead in a congested race for automatic promotion and the play-offs.
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Despite sitting 11th, MK Dons are firmly in that conversation, although they are three points adrift of their midweek opponents and five points behind Salford City in seventh.
The five-point gap means a positive outcome on January 1 is imperative to prevent the Milton Keynes outfit from falling further adrift, with Salford playing relegation-threatened Harrogate Town.
Nevertheless, an ongoing four-match winless sequence could undermine Scott Lindsey's troops, who have fired blanks in two games during their negative run, conceding 10 times, including a 6-3 defeat by Newport County.
Strikingly, that loss at Newport followed a four-game run without losing on their travels, including three victories, highlighting the away side's seeming away expertise when the application levels are adequate.
The Dons supporters will remain cautious, given their club's middling results away from Milton Keynes, with their previous three-game winning run being their only recorded successes in eight attempts on their travels in 2024-25.
Team News
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With Chesterfield suffering no fresh setbacks, John Fleck (shin) remains the club's only absentee on New Year's Day.
Cook has multiple players on three goals or higher: Will Grigg (eight), James Berry (seven), Dilan Markanday and Armando Dobra (six each), and that quartet should be involved in varying capacities on January 1.
Although Alex Gilbey received his fifth booking of the season against Crewe Alexandra, it came after the 19-game cut-off point, meaning the attacking midfielder is available on Wednesday.
Nine-goal man Gibey could be pivotal for Lindsey's men, who also require top showings from Joe White (four goals) and Scott Hogan (three) to end their winless run.
Chesterfield possible starting lineup:
Thompson; Sheckleford, Naylor, Grimes, Araujo; Mandeville, Banks, Dobra; Markanday, Grigg, Hobson
MK Dons possible starting lineup:
McGill; Offord, Lawrence, Sherring; Nemane, Kelly, Thompson-Sommers, Tomlinson; White, Gilbey; Hogan
We say: Chesterfield 2-1 MK Dons
Having failed to keep an away clean sheet all season, that pattern should continue for MK Dons on Wednesday, with Chesterfield backed to notch a fourth straight League Two success in front of their supporters.
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