Perhaps a welcome break from league football as Northampton Town & Walsall face off to decide who makes it to next stage of the EFL Trophy. All the pre-match information is available here!
It’s busy days for these teams as both were in action only a few days ago. There’s no rest for the wicked, or in this case; no rest for Northampton Town and Walsall.
Northampton Town form and stats
Last season their EFL Trophy adventure ended in the 3rd round.Northampton Town have collected 7 points from their League Two home games so far after 2-1-2.
Northampton's previous game was also a home match, the defeat 0-2 versus Sutton United. Fraser Horsfall was "man of the match" with a rating of 7.45 out of 10. The defender Horsfall won 14 of 15 duels.
Preceding that game was the away draw at Salford City that finished 2-2.The bookmakers consider this a fairly even contest. One could say only the home advantage separates the teams. It could be relevant to look at how Northampton Town have performed in matches similar to this (as small favourites). Our database has found ten matches with the results: Won five, drawn three and lost two.
There's a new game coming up fairly quickly for Northampton as they are travelling to their away game against Hartlepool United in the League Two. That match is four days after this one.
Northampton has scored 5 league goals at home this season, in 5 matches. Northampton have conceded 6 in these home matches.
Walsall form and stats
Last season their EFL Trophy adventure ended in the group stage.The story so far for the visiting team on their League Two travels is 0 wins, 2 draws and 3 defeats.
It's another away game for the visitors, as they travelled to Exeter City in their previous outing. The League Two match ended in a draw 2-2. The attacker George Miller got a match rating of 7.82 in that game. Miller scored two goals and hit one key pass.
A loss against Bristol Rovers was the result prior to that, in a League Two home game.As mentioned above, this is an open game with no clear favourite. We have found 15 similar matches played by Walsall in our archives, and the results are: three wins for Walsall, seven draws and five defeats.
A quick return to home after this game, as Walsall are hosting Salford City in the League Two only four days away.
Many goals are not expected from the visiting Walsall as they have only managed to score 4 times from 5 away games in the league. As for defending, Walsall rarely keep clean sheets as they have conceded 8 goals from these away matches.
Head 2 Head
Head-2-head stats last ten meetings: three - zero - seven (Northampton wins - draws - Walsall wins). As for goals, four matches ended with three or more goals (over 2,5), six had two or less.Top Goalscorers
  G. Miller 4 goals |   J. Guthrie 3 goals |  K. Phillips 2 goals |
Northampton Town missing players
Walsall missing players
| Northampton Town | Walsall | ||||||
| Total | Home | Statistics | Stat | Away | Total | ||
| 25 | 12 | Played | P | 11 | 25 | ||
| 7 | 4 | Won | W | 1 | 6 | ||
| 8 | 2 | Drew | D | 4 | 7 | ||
| 10 | 6 | Lost | L | 6 | 12 | ||
| 26 | 13 | Scored | S | 8 | 19 | ||
| 33 | 17 | Conceded | C | 15 | 32 | ||
| 92% | 100% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 82% | 84% | ||
| 72% | 83% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 73% | 64% | ||
| 44% | 42% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 36% | 36% | ||
| 24% | 17% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 18% | 20% | ||
| 4% | 8% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 0% | 0% | ||
| 52% | 42% | BTTS | BTTS | 45% | 40% | ||
| 28% | 25% | Clean Sheets | C S | 27% | 32% | ||
| 28% | 33% | Failed to Score | F T | 45% | 44% | ||
| 4.2 | 4.4 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 4.6 | 4.3 | ||
| 4.9 | 4.7 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 4.6 | 5.3 | ||
| 2.1 | 2.2 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 0.8 | 0.8 | ||
| 1 | 0 | Red cards | R C | 1 | 1 | ||
| 9.6 | 10.9 | Shots (avg) | S ( | 9.3 | 8.7 | ||
| 3.1 | 3.7 | Shots on Target (avg) | S O | 2.5 | 2.5 | ||
| 35% | 32% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 28% | 30% | ||
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Walsall | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 2 | Forest Green Rovers | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 3 | Northampton Town | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | Brighton U21 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 0 |
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Forest Green Rovers | 10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 20 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 2 | 12 | 23 |
| 2 | Harrogate Town | 10 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 17 | 12 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 19 |
| 3 | Port Vale | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 13 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 18 |
| 4 | Leyton Orient | 10 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 18 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 16 |
| 5 | Swindon Town | 10 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 12 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 16 |
| 6 | Exeter City | 10 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 14 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 15 |
| 7 | Barrow | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 14 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 15 |
| 8 | Bradford City | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 14 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 15 |
| 9 | Tranmere Rovers | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 15 |
| 10 | Northampton Town | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 15 |
| 11 | Sutton United | 9 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 14 |
| 12 | Newport County | 10 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 13 | 13 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 0 | 14 |
| 13 | Hartlepool United | 10 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 14 |
| 14 | Crawley Town | 10 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 13 | 15 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 10 | -2 | 14 |
| 15 | Salford City | 10 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 11 | 10 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 12 |
| 16 | Rochdale | 10 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 12 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 9 | -1 | 12 |
| 17 | Stevenage | 10 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 7 | -4 | 12 |
| 18 | Colchester United | 9 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 4 | -2 | 10 |
| 19 | Carlisle United | 10 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 9 | 15 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 9 | -6 | 10 |
| 20 | Bristol Rovers | 10 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 17 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 9 | -8 | 10 |
| 21 | Walsall | 10 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 11 | 15 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 8 | -4 | 9 |
| 22 | Mansfield Town | 10 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | -5 | 9 |
| 23 | Oldham Athletic | 10 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 16 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 8 | -10 | 7 |
| 24 | Scunthorpe United | 10 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 17 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 8 | -11 | 7 |
- Walsall FC
- Express & Star - (local newspaper)
- Bescot Banter - (supporter site)
- Up the Saddlers - (supporter forum)