Aiming to continue their climb towards the top two in the League One table, Huddersfield Town will visit the One Call Stadium on Saturday to take on Mansfield Town.
The visitors have moved up to fourth spot with three straight victories, while their hosts have dropped out of the top six and down to 10th spot in the midst of a rut.
Match preview
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Mansfield Town return to the One Call Stadium on Saturday aiming to stop their slide down the League One table and move back towards the playoff spots.
After winning promotion from last time around, the Stags enjoyed a particularly impressive start to their first campaign in England's third tier since the 2002-03 term, amassing 23 points from their first 11 outings to sit in the top six, having won seven of those games and only suffered two defeats.
Their form has since taken a sharp dip, though, as Nigel Clough's side went on to play out an impressive 1-1 draw with title-chasing Birmingham City before suffering four consecutive league defeats heading into the weekend, firstly losing 1-0 to Wrexham, Bristol Rovers and league leaders Wycombe Wanderers in November.
Then on the back of a 1-0 victory of their own to get past Stevenage in the FA Cup second round, Nigel Clough's side most recently faced a tough trip to Bolton Wanderers on Tuesday and failed to end their league losing run, despite leading 1-0 through Hiram Boateng until the final 15 minutes, as Dion Charles levelled the scores and Victor Adeboyejo put the hosts ahead before John McAtee put the game out of sight five minutes from time.
Now sitting 10th in League One as a result of their dip in form, trailing the top six by six points albeit with games in hand of 10 of the 11 other top-half sides, Mansfield Town will be keen to bounce back to winning ways on Saturday and begin climbing back towards the leading pack.
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They face another tough test, though, as the visitors travel to the One Call Stadium as one of the division's form sides with the top two in their sights.
Following a mixed start to their first season back in League One under the management of Michael Duff with the aim of winning an immediate promotion back to the Championship, Huddersfield Town sat in the bottom half after nine outings with 12 points on the board, but they have since hit their stride and put a strong run together.
Indeed, the Terriers now find themselves unbeaten in eight third-tier outings, winning six of those including each of their last three games since the November international break, initially returning with 2-1 and 2-0 triumphs over Charlton Athletic and Leyton Orient respectively.
Wigan Athletic then visited the John Smith's Stadium on Tuesday, and Duff's men continued their climb up the table with a third straight victory, having stood strong to see out a 1-0 triumph after Oliver Turton broke the deadlock early in the second half.
Having moved up to fourth spot in the midst of their hot streak, now trailing second-placed Wrexham by five points with a game in hand, Huddersfield Town will look to make it four wins on the bounce and nine games unbeaten on Saturday to further strengthen their promotion bid.
Team News
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Mansfield Town head into Saturday's meeting without midfielder Hiram Boateng, who was sent off in the second half of Tuesday's defeat to Bolton after scoring the opening goal.
In his absence, Aaron Lewis will likely come into the midfield to join Louis Reed and Keanu Baccus, while Baily Cargill should come back into a back three after serving his own suspension last time out.
Lee Gregory, who leads the squad with seven League One goals this term, has been absent for the last three games, and if he again misses out at the weekend Will Evans will continue to lead the line with support from George Maris.
Michael Duff could field an unchanged Huddersfield Town starting XI from Tuesday's 1-0 victory over Wigan Athletic, having shifted to a back four shape in recent weeks.
Matty Pearson will hope to return to the defence, but Oliver Turton, Michal Helik, Tom Lees and Nigel Lonwijk should all keep their places after that clean sheet, while David Kasumu, Herbie Kane and Ben Wiles should continue in the middle.
Even if Rhys Healey remains out, there is competition in attack with Bojan Radulovic and Freddie Ladapo fighting to start after Josh Koroma and Callum Marshall joined Danny Ward on Tuesday.
Mansfield Town possible starting lineup:
Pym; Bowery, Oshilaja, Cargill; Akins, Baccus, Reed, Lewis, Blake-Tracy; Maris; Evans
Huddersfield Town possible starting lineup:
Chapman; Turton, Helik, Lees, Lonwijk; Wiles, Kasumu, Kane; Marshall, Radulovic, Koroma
We say: Mansfield Town 0-1 Huddersfield Town
While Mansfield Town suffered a fourth straight defeat on Tuesday, they did lead 1-0 away at a strong Bolton side until Hiram Boateng's second-half red card and will certainly pose a tough test for Huddersfield.
The visitors are beginning to show their quality, though, and with momentum growing, we back Duff's men to take all three points from a tight encounter at the One Call Stadium.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Sam Varley
