Both sides will be looking to make up ground on the playoff spots by taking three points from each other this week, so expect a close-fought contest.
It is difficult to see a huge margin of victory for either team given their mixed form, though Mansfield have won two of their last three and only narrowly lost on Sunday, so they may get the win to start 2025 on a positive note.
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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 Mansfield Town win with a probability of 38.79%. A win for Bolton Wanderers had a probability of 35.93% and a draw had a probability of 25.3%.
The most likely scoreline for a Mansfield Town win was 1-0 with a probability of 8.72%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.53%) and 2-0 (6.24%). The likeliest Bolton Wanderers win was 0-1 (8.34%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.92%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with an 8.5% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted a 2-1 win for Mansfield Town in this match and our data analysis correctly predicted the win for Mansfield Town.
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