Crewe Alexandra play host to Wolverhampton Wanderers Under-21s on Tuesday evening having already secured their place in the EFL Trophy knockout stages.
While the home side require a point to guarantee top spot in Group C, Wolves need all three points to give them the best chance of edging out Shrewsbury Town.
Match preview
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Regardless of how impressive they have been in this competition, Crewe continue to flounder in League One, now sitting six points adrift of safety.
The bottom-placed outfit are without a victory in nine league games, a four-match losing streak being ended with a 1-1 draw at home to Doncaster Rovers on November 2.
However, David Artell's men were well beaten by Swindon Town in the FA Cup, a 3-0 home defeat casting further doubt on the manager's position.
The argument will be that one win can change everything, but Crewe have recorded back-to-back victories on just one occasion throughout 2021.
On a positive note, wins and clean sheets against Shrewsbury Town and Wigan Athletic have come as a surprise, and there will be a desire to retain that 100% record on both fronts.
Wolves head into this fixture having missed an opportunity to have already secured their progress, James Collins's side blowing a 1-0 lead at Shrewsbury to lose 3-1.
For all of the praise for their performance, there was disappointment having ultimately fallen short, and there is a feeling that they are outsiders to overcome their next opponents.
In general, however, this young crop of players, even by Under-23s standards, have performed well this season, the team currently sitting in seventh in Premier League 2 Division Two.
They also head into this game on the back of a 1-1 draw with second-placed West Bromwich Albion, a result achieved in front of a decent crowd at Molineux.
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Team News
Artell will almost certainly make several changes to the Crewe side which succumbed so tamely against Swindon.
Josh Lundstram, J'Neil Bennett, Oli Finney, Scott Robertson and Mikael Mandron will all hope to come into the team.
Wolves will have to make do without Louie Moulden and Fabio Silva, who have been called up by England Under-20s and Portugal Under-21s respectively.
Goalkeeper Joe O'Shaughnessy could deputise between the sticks, while Collins will likely find a place for Luke Cundle in midfield.
Owen Hesketh, who should also feature in midfield, has scored Wolves' only goal of the competition.
Crewe Alexandra possible starting lineup:
Richards; Thomas, Sass-Davies, Daniels; Offord, Lundstram, Robertson, Gomes, Bennett; Kashket, Mandron
Wolverhampton Wanderers Under-21s possible starting lineup:
O'Shaughnessy; Agboola, Estrada, Nya; Birtwhistle, Cundle, Hesketh, Lembikisa; Hodnett, Campbell, Harkin
We say: Crewe Alexandra 2-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers Under-21s
Despite Wolves having performed admirably in this group, we feel that this match could be a step too far. Providing that Crewe play a strong team, the home side could make light work of their young opponents.
Top tip
Darren Plant
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 Crewe Alexandra win with a probability of 61.02%. A draw had a probability of 20.7% and a win for Wolverhampton Wanderers Under-21s had a probability of 18.24%.
The most likely scoreline for a Crewe Alexandra win was 2-1 with a probability of 9.94%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (9.63%) and 1-0 (9.36%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (9.66%), while for a Wolverhampton Wanderers Under-21s win it was 1-2 (4.99%). The actual scoreline of 3-0 was predicted with a 6.6% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Crewe Alexandra would win this match.
