Shrewsbury Town host Rochdale in the second round of the EFL Cup on Tuesday evening at New Meadow, with both sides looking to progress to the third round.
Neither of the two teams have started the season in good form, so will be looking for a victory in this tie to act as a catalyst in their league form too.
Match preview
Shrewsbury could not be heading into this tie in a much worse position at the start of their campaign.
After four straight defeats in all four matches in League One to start the new season, Shrewsbury find themselves bottom of the table without scoring a single league goal.
The latest of those defeats was a 3-0 home loss to Plymouth Argyle on Saturday. However, this scoreline does not tell the full story when you consider the hosts had 62% possession and had over three times as many shots as their opponents, although only one managed to find its way on target.
On a positive note though, The Shrews have at least bettered their showing in the EFL Cup last season, where they exited at the first round stage after a 4-3 defeat away to Middlesbrough.
In order to reach the second round, the home side defeated fellow League One side Lincoln City earlier this month via a penalty shootout after the tie finished 2-2 after 90 minutes.
Visitors Rochdale head to the New Meadow on Tuesday in slightly more positive spirits than their hosts, despite being the underdog heading into this one.
The Dale sit 15th in League Two, so a league below Shrewsbury, but arrive after winning their first match of the season on Saturday.
An impressive 3-1 win away to Northampton Town, thanks to goals from Max Taylor, Josh Andrews and Abraham Odoh, will provide a much-needed lift after two losses and a draw in the previous three league matches.
However, Rochdale come into this second round tie a little fortunate to be here. Their first round fixture away to Harrogate Town was postponed and Rochdale were awarded a bye after their opponents struggled with a number of positive COVID-19 cases, and could not fulfil the fixture as a result.
This is a Harrogate side that they had lost to just three days earlier on the opening weekend of the League Two season as well.
Although, it is not Rochdale's fault and they will be looking to cause an upset on Tuesday and silence any critics that question their right to compete in the second round.
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Team News
Shrewsbury manager Steve Cotterill can take a positive note heading into Tuesday evening's match, in the form of a fully-fit squad available for selection it appears.
He may look to rotate his side with some fresh legs after matches either every three or four days since the season began, and in order to try and find the winning formula that has been missing so far this season.
Rochdale make the trip with a number of positive COVID-19 cases causing problems throughout the squad recently.
Aidy White, Conor Grant and George Broadbent all missed the trip to Northampton at the weekend due to positive tests, so they should miss out again here.
Jake Beesley's availability remains in question as he also missed Saturday's win with an injury he picked up in last week's midweek match.
However, Jim McNulty's period of isolation came to an end in time for him to make the substitutes' bench against Northampton, so will be pushing for a starting spot.
Shrewsbury Town possible starting lineup:
Marosi; Pennington, Pierre, Nurse; Bennett, Davis, Ogbeta, Leahy; Vela; Bowman, Pyke
Rochdale possible starting lineup:
Lynch; Graham, O'Connell, Taylor; O'Keeffe, Morley, Dooley, Done; Odoh, Andrews, Cashman
We say: Shrewsbury Town 1-1 Rochdale (Shrewsbury to win on penalties)
This is an interesting match-up at New Meadow on Tuesday. Normally, Shrewsbury would be expected to win due to being a division higher than their opponents, but with their dismal start to the season coupled with Rochdale's boost from their first win at the weekend, we say Rochdale could get at least a draw here and take this one to penalties.
Top tip
Matthew Tranter
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 Shrewsbury Town win with a probability of 42.33%. A win for Rochdale had a probability of 31.33% and a draw had a probability of 26.3%.
The most likely scoreline for a Shrewsbury Town win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.7%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.79%) and 2-0 (7.52%). The likeliest Rochdale win was 0-1 (8.92%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.52%). The actual scoreline of 0-2 was predicted with a 5.2% likelihood.
