Cheltenham Town will welcome Burton Albion to Whaddon Road on Saturday with the hosts looking to bring an end to their seven-game winless run in all competitions.

Meanwhile, the Brewers will be aiming for consecutive victories in a bid to improve on their current mid-table position.

Match preview

Cheltenham Town's manager Michael Duff and Sean Long after the match in February 2021 © Reuters

Cheltenham will be hoping to halt a poor run of form that has seen Michael Duff's men slide down to 15th position in the League One table.

The Robins have collected just three points from their last six league games, although they were all so near to ending their winless run last time out.

Their most recent fixture saw Duff take his side to the Kassam Stadium to face Oxford United, and it was the visitors who grabbed the opener with Callum Wright finding the net moments after half time.

However, in the 82nd minute, Mark Sykes equalised to dash Cheltenham's hopes of victory, although Duff can be encouraged by his team's performance against an Oxford side who have lost only once in their last 12 league games.

Frustratingly, Sykes's late strike denied Cheltenham their fourth clean sheet of the season, and it has been in the defensive third where they have struggled, with the Robins conceding 15 goals in their last six league games - Morecambe are the only League One side to have shipped more goals in that period.

As for the visitors, they will head into the contest in buoyant mood after ending a run of three consecutive defeats with an impressive 4-1 home victory over Crewe Alexandra on New Year's Day.

The Brewers wasted no time in finding the opener as Harry Chapman struck in the sixth minute, but Crewe responded through Tom Lowery.

The Crewe equaliser did not dent the belief of the hosts and they wasted no time in retaking the lead, with John Brayford finding the net before Kane Hemmings grabbed another before the break.

A more routine second half brought about one more goal in stoppage time as Daniel Jebbison's struck to seal Burton's third successive home league victory.

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's side will be without home comforts this weekend, and it has been the away form that has been the Brewers downfall this term with Burton winning just two league games on the road this season.

Cheltenham Town League One form:

Cheltenham Town form (all competitions):

Burton Albion League One form:

Burton Albion form (all competitions):

Team News

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, now in charge of Burton Albion, pictured in January, 2021 © Reuters

On Thursday, Cheltenham saw Kyle Vassell leave the club by mutual consent, but they have brought in Charlie Brown on a permanent transfer and Dan Nlundulu on a loan deal until the end of the season.

Those two new additions wrapped up a busy week that also resulted in the arrival of Ben Williams on a permanent deal.

The three new signings should all feature in Saturday's squad, although they may begin the encounter on the bench.

As for the visitors, an impressive performance last time out will see changes kept to a minimum.

Jebbison could come into the starting lineup in place of Chapman, who has returned to Blackburn Rovers following the end of his loan spell.

Having scored in consecutive games, Hemmings will be looking to continue his fine goalscoring form on Saturday.

Cheltenham Town possible starting lineup:
Evans; Long, Pollock, Raglan; Blair, Thomas, Wright, Sercombe, Freestone; Joseph, May

Burton Albion possible starting lineup:
Garratt; Shaughnessy, Leak, Brayford; Hamer, Oshilaja, Maddox, Borthwick-Jackson; Jebbison, Lakin, Hemmings

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We say: Cheltenham Town 1-3 Burton Albion

Burton are unbeaten in their last six meetings with Cheltenham, and given the fact that the Robins are struggling to pick up points of late, we think that the Brewers will prevail to claim all three points on Saturday.

Top tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting under 2.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.

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 Cheltenham Town win with a probability of 38.63%. A win for Burton Albion had a probability of 34.91% and a draw had a probability of 26.5%.

The most likely scoreline for a Cheltenham Town win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.04%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.38%) and 2-0 (6.69%). The likeliest Burton Albion win was 0-1 (9.45%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.58%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with a 12.6% likelihood.