National cups are something special for many teams and supporters. Today's match will decide whether it's Crewe Alexandra or Doncaster Rovers that keep their silverware dream alive.
There’s little time for restitution or working hard at the training pitch these days, with both teams having played their last game less than four days ago.
Crewe Alexandra form and stats
Crewe Alexandra have not come this way in the EFL Trophy without some hard work on the way, more precisely defeating Shrewsbury Town, Wolves U21 and Wigan Athletic. Alexandra participated in EFL Trophy the last season, where they reached the 2nd round.With 2 League One wins, 3 draws and 4 defeats from their home games, Crewe Alexandra are certainly not brimming with confidence. On the other hand, in the EFL Trophy, Crewe Alexandra has performed like this (both home and away): 3 wins, 0 draws and 0 losses.
No payout for Alexandra in their previous match, an away game at Ipswich Town that ended in defeat 1-2. Christopher Long, a striker, was the declared top player for the side in that game, collecting a rating of 7.2 (out of 10). Long scored one goal, hit two key passes and dribled past the opponent 1 of 1 times.
Heartbreak before that as Alexandra lost 2-3 at AFC Wimbledon's place.The home team are moderate favourites in this game. How does Crewe Alexandra handle that role? We have found seven games in our database similar to this one, based on the home odds. The stats for these games are four wins, zero draws and three defeats.
Alexandra has scored 10 league goals at home this season, in 9 matches. Alexandra have conceded 16 from these games.
Doncaster Rovers form and stats
The traveling awayteam has defeated Manchester City U21, Rotherham United and Scunthorpe United in order to reach 2nd round of EFL Trophy. Doncaster's mission in EFL Trophy last season failed in the group stage.There's been little loot from Doncaster Rovers's travels as they have only collected 1 point from 11 away games in the League One. Doncaster Rovers only have 0 wins to counter their 10 defeats and 1 draw. When we have look at the EFL Trophy statistics, we find 2W-0D-1L. This is both home and away. Travelling has not been lucrative for the away team as they have returned home without a win in twelve away games in a row.
The attacking players of Doncaster Rovers have been feeble for some time now, the team not scoring a league goal in the last 315 minutes.
Two away games in a row for Doncaster, who will hope to get a better result in this one after losing 0-2 versus Burton Albion in the League One. Defender Tom Anderson was the best team player with a rating of 7.25. Anderson won 6 of 7 duels.
It was a League One defeat before that one as the away game against Bolton Wanderers wasn't a success with a 0-3 loss.Doncaster are the outsiders in this one, but not by much. Their performance in similar games (being the away team and moderate outsiders) is three wins, zero draws and five defeats. From a total of eight matches.
A new game in only three days for Doncaster Rovers, the FA Cup home match versus Mansfield Town. Busy days.
Doncaster are seemingly not capable of scoring regularly on their travels in the league. They have only managed 3 goals from 11 away games. The Doncaster manager R. Wellens has some worries about the defense as 26 goals have been conceded in these travels.
Head 2 Head
As for the last ten games between these two teams, there's four Crewe Alexandra victories, two draws and four Doncaster Rovers wins. Over/under statistics; seven of these games ended with three goals or more, three matches with two goals or less.Top Goalscorers
  C. Long 4 goals |  M. Mandron 3 goals |  C. Porter 3 goals |
Crewe Alexandra missing players
Doncaster Rovers missing players
| Crewe Alexandra | Doncaster Rovers | ||||||
| Total | Home | Statistics | Stat | Away | Total | ||
| 25 | 11 | Played | P | 15 | 25 | ||
| 6 | 4 | Won | W | 2 | 6 | ||
| 5 | 2 | Drew | D | 2 | 5 | ||
| 14 | 5 | Lost | L | 11 | 14 | ||
| 23 | 14 | Scored | S | 7 | 17 | ||
| 41 | 18 | Conceded | C | 30 | 45 | ||
| 100% | 100% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 93% | 88% | ||
| 84% | 91% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 73% | 72% | ||
| 44% | 55% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 40% | 44% | ||
| 20% | 36% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 20% | 20% | ||
| 8% | 9% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 13% | 16% | ||
| 40% | 36% | BTTS | BTTS | 27% | 36% | ||
| 24% | 36% | Clean Sheets | C S | 13% | 20% | ||
| 36% | 27% | Failed to Score | F T | 67% | 56% | ||
| 3.9 | 4.4 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 3.5 | 4.3 | ||
| 6.4 | 5.1 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 5.9 | 5.7 | ||
| 1.9 | 1.3 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 2 | 1.8 | ||
| 2 | 1 | Red cards | R C | 2 | 2 | ||
| 9.6 | 10.8 | Shots (avg) | S ( | 7.5 | 8.9 | ||
| 3.5 | 4.3 | Shots on Target (avg) | S O | 2.5 | 2.9 | ||
| 26% | 30% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 18% | 23% | ||
| 15.6 | 13.2 | Shots against (avg) | S A | 12.2 | 12.1 | ||
| 4.4 | 3.6 | Shots on Target against (avg) | S O | 5.5 | 5 | ||
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Rotherham United | 19 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 34 | 13 | 10 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 22 | 10 | 9 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 12 | 3 | 21 | 38 |
| 2 | Wigan Athletic | 18 | 12 | 2 | 4 | 34 | 16 | 9 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 22 | 8 | 18 | 38 |
| 3 | Wycombe Wanderers | 20 | 11 | 5 | 4 | 32 | 23 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 11 | 11 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 17 | 12 | 9 | 38 |
| 4 | Plymouth Argyle | 20 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 33 | 22 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 17 | 11 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 16 | 11 | 11 | 36 |
| 5 | Sunderland | 18 | 11 | 2 | 5 | 30 | 23 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 4 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 14 | 19 | 7 | 35 |
| 6 | Milton Keynes Dons | 19 | 10 | 4 | 5 | 37 | 24 | 9 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 15 | 10 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 22 | 14 | 13 | 34 |
| 7 | Sheffield Wednesday | 20 | 8 | 9 | 3 | 28 | 21 | 10 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 15 | 8 | 10 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 13 | 13 | 7 | 33 |
| 8 | Oxford United | 18 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 29 | 18 | 11 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 21 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 32 |
| 9 | Portsmouth | 20 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 26 | 22 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 14 | 10 | 11 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 12 | 12 | 4 | 32 |
| 10 | Burton Albion | 20 | 8 | 4 | 8 | 22 | 23 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 18 | 12 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 11 | -1 | 28 |
| 11 | Ipswich Town | 20 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 36 | 30 | 11 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 21 | 17 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 15 | 13 | 6 | 27 |
| 12 | Cheltenham Town | 19 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 26 | 30 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 13 | 19 | -4 | 27 |
| 13 | Bolton Wanderers | 20 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 29 | 29 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 16 | 15 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 13 | 14 | 0 | 26 |
| 14 | Accrington Stanley | 19 | 7 | 3 | 9 | 23 | 36 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 15 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 11 | 21 | -13 | 24 |
| 15 | Charlton Athletic | 20 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 26 | 27 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 15 | 14 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 11 | 13 | -1 | 23 |
| 16 | Cambridge United | 20 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 27 | 35 | 11 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 15 | 17 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 12 | 18 | -8 | 23 |
| 17 | AFC Wimbledon | 18 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 26 | 30 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 15 | 15 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 11 | 15 | -4 | 21 |
| 18 | Lincoln City | 19 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 20 | 24 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 12 | 11 | -4 | 21 |
| 19 | Shrewsbury Town | 19 | 5 | 4 | 10 | 18 | 25 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 11 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 14 | -7 | 19 |
| 20 | Morecambe | 19 | 5 | 4 | 10 | 29 | 37 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 14 | 17 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 15 | 20 | -8 | 19 |
| 21 | Gillingham | 20 | 3 | 8 | 9 | 16 | 27 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 14 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 13 | -11 | 17 |
| 22 | Fleetwood Town | 18 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 30 | 34 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 15 | 16 | 9 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 15 | 18 | -4 | 15 |
| 23 | Doncaster Rovers | 19 | 3 | 4 | 12 | 11 | 34 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 8 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 3 | 26 | -23 | 13 |
| 24 | Crewe Alexandra | 20 | 2 | 6 | 12 | 17 | 36 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 10 | 16 | 11 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 7 | 20 | -19 | 12 |