Two teams with very different objectives meet in League Two at 3pm on Saturday afternoon, as automatic promotion hopefuls Salford City travel to relegation-threatened Crawley Town's Broadfield Stadium.
The visitors are in fourth place in the League Two table and are chasing down Northampton Town in the final top three place, whereas Crawley Town are attempting to keep their head above water, with new manager Scott Lindsey's team sitting 21st, just two points and two places above the relegation zone.
Match preview
© Reuters
Neil Wood's Salford are third in the form table at the moment, after three wins in their last four games - the last of which being a 2-0 home victory against Sutton United.
The Greater Manchester side had been in the top seven for most of the season, and even led the division on two occasions between August and November.
A downturn in results, however, led to City falling out of the playoff places altogether by the end of November following a 1-0 defeat at Leyton Orient.
Salford eventually climbed back into seventh place with a 4-1 victory at Grimsby Town in December, before eventually jumping to fifth after another victory last weekend.
The Ammies can significantly close the gap on the top three once again on Saturday, with victory over Crawley potentially taking them to within one point of the automatic promotion places should other results go their way.
Scott Lindsey will hope to turn Crawley Town's underwhelming season around, with the Red Devils sitting 21st and just two points ahead of Gillingham in the final relegation spot.
Lindsey was appointed on January 10, but this will be his first game as Crawley manager, following several postponements.
This season's battle against relegation is a sharp decline in fortunes for the Hampshire outfit, following three successive 12th-placed finishes between 2019-20 and 2021-22. Indeed, the Red Devils were even in the relegation zone for four successive weeks between September and November.
The new manager will be hoping to start positively, and an unlikely victory over Salford on Saturday could take them five points clear of the bottom three, depending on other results.
Team News
The respective fully-fit squads for both managers may give them the opportunity to select their preferred lineups.
The Crawley manager will have more selection dilemmas, however, given that this is his first game in charge of the side.
Salford City's Matt Smith and Conor McAleny will be fit, and will hope to continue on the goalscoring trail on Saturday - the pair's seven and five goals, respectively, have been key to the side's promotion ambitions this season.
Ashley Nadesan, Dominic Telford and James Tilley have all been vital for Crawley as they have fought against relegation to the National League - Nadesan has scored six goals this season, whilst Telford and Tilley have both netted five each.
These are statistics that may well need to continue if Town are going to give themselves breathing space from danger on Saturday, as all three of Crawley's key men are in line to start against Salford.
Crawley Town possible starting lineup:
Balcombe; Tsaroulla, Francillette, Ransom; Mason, Jenks, Balagizi, Oteh; Tilley, Telford, Nadesan
Salford City possible starting lineup:
Cairns; Lowe, Vassell, Leak, Touray; Watson, Watt; Bolton, Galbraith, McAleny; Smith
We say: Crawley Town 1-3 Salford City
The contrasting form and seasons of these two teams should make this a comfortable away win for Salford City.
Crawley's four-game winless streak, combined with Salford City's own three-game unbeaten run and the visitors' pressing need for the points, should negate any new-manager bounce for Scott Lindsey's relegation-threatened team.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Ollie Hawthorn
