Yeovil Town will welcome Eastleigh to Huish Park on Saturday for a clash between two sides in the middle of the National League table.
The hosts currently occupy 15th spot following two pleasing results, while their opponents are just three points better off in 13th place.
Match preview
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After a disappointing 16th-placed finish in the National League last season, Yeovil Town began the new term in exciting fashion, putting together three straight victories in the first month, before a dip in form saw them sit on just 11 points from the first 10 games of the season.
The Glovers have shown signs of improvement in recent weeks though, firstly breaking a six-game league winless run with a 2-0 victory at home to Woking, as Charlie Wakefield gave them an early lead and Tom Knowles strengthened their position in the 48th minute.
They followed that up with an impressive goalless draw away at sixth-placed Solihull Moors, before building confidence with a 5-0 thrashing of Yate Town in the first round of the FA Cup last time out.
Darren Sarll's side took a three-goal lead into the break thanks to Wakefield, Matt Worthington and Dale Gorman, before Adi Yussuf and Sonny Blu Lo-Everton capped off a dominant display.
Having now put up three impressive displays on the bounce, the Glovers will be keen to keep growing in confidence and climb further up the table with a victory on Saturday.
They meet an Eastleigh side who also earned an important result last time out, after a mixed start of their own.
Saturday's visitors picked up just nine points from their first nine games of the season, but they have now won three of the last four league games to quickly climb the table.
After 2-1 wins over Wealdstone and Altrincham, Ben Strevens's side were somewhat unlucky to fall to a 1-0 defeat away at third-placed Chesterfield, and they bounced back immediately.
Tyrone Barnett made the difference in a 1-0 home victory over Maidenhead United at the end of October, but the Spitfires now head into Saturday's game on the back of a 2-0 FA Cup defeat to Boreham Wood last weekend.
Strevens's men will now hope to bounce back and continue their improvement when they travel along the south coast.
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Team News
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Yeovil headed into their clash with Solihull Moors with an unchanged side from the victory over Woking, and they will likely make minimal changes again for Saturday after another impressive showing.
Sarll is forced into one change though, as centre-back Max Hunt will serve a suspension after he was shown a red card last time out.
Forward Joe Quigley will be pushing for a return to the starting XI after consecutive substitute appearances, having hit six goals in the first nine league outings of the season, including a flurry of five in the opening four games.
Eastleigh may look to field an unchanged side from the victory over Maidenhead United, with Christian Maghoma and captain Andrew Boyce partnering up at the heart of a back four after a clean sheet.
Tyrone Barnett will keep his place in attack after he netted his second goal of the season, while strike partner Ben House has found the net four times this term.
Yeovil Town possible starting lineup:
Smith; Bradley, Moss, Staunton, Robinson; Wakefield, Gorman, Worthington, Barnett; Yussuf, Quigley
Eastleigh possible starting lineup:
McDonnell; Harper, Maghoma, Boyce, Kelly; Hesketh, Miley, Whelan, Pritchard; Barnett, House
We say: Yeovil Town 1-1 Eastleigh
Given the two sides appear to be on the up, we predict a draw on Saturday that would be relatively pleasing for both parties.
The teams come in with similar levels of quality, and they will both be keen to avoid a defeat that would likely send them back down the table.
Top tip
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 Yeovil Town win with a probability of 50.14%. A draw had a probability of 25.1% and a win for Eastleigh had a probability of 24.72%.
The most likely scoreline for a Yeovil Town win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.57%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.46%) and 2-0 (9.16%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.95%), while for a Eastleigh win it was 0-1 (7.55%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with a 9.5% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Yeovil Town would win this match.
