Burton Albion will welcome Huddersfield Town to the Pirelli Stadium on Saturday for an important game at both ends of the League One table.
The hosts sit three points adrift of safety in the run-in, while their visitors have fallen four points behind the playoff places.
Match preview
© Imago
Burton Albion head into the weekend aiming to give their League One survival hopes a major boost, having suffered a setback last weekend.
When Gary Bowyer arrived at the Pirelli Stadium in December, they sat on just 12 points from 19 outings, and after a slow start to life under their new boss, the Brewers have recorded 24 more points in their last 15 attempts.
Across those 15 outings since mid-January, the Midlands outfit have recorded seven victories while only suffering five defeats, with their most recent triumph coming at home to Leyton Orient after a narrow loss away at promotion-chasing Stockport County.
A tough trip to second-placed Wrexham then followed last weekend, and Bowyer's men failed to make it back-to-back victories, instead succumbing to a 3-0 beating as Steven Fletcher, Sam Smith and Jack Marriott scored in the final 20 minutes for the hosts after Charlie Webster's early red card.
Still sitting in the bottom four as a result of that loss, but only trailing out-of-sorts Bristol Rovers by three points with a game in hand and six left to play, Burton Albion head into the weekend with optimism and will look to leap out of the drop zone with a victory.
Their visitors, meanwhile, travel to the Pirelli Stadium in need of a win of their own to reignite their playoff hopes.
Huddersfield Town's bid to make an instant return to the Championship this season has taken a major hit since mid-January, having earned just 17 points from their last 17 outings after looking set to compete for automatic promotion.
Following Michael Duff's departure in early March, Jon Worthington has been unable to oversee a reversal in the Terriers' fortunes thus far, despite beginning with a 5-1 beating of Crawley Town, as another pair of defeats followed.
The Terriers bounced back to winning ways at home to Mansfield Town last weekend, thanks to goals from Ruben Roosken and Ben Wiles, only to suffer another setback on Tuesday as Wycombe Wanderers visited the John Smith's Stadium and took all three points with Daniel Udoh netting the only goal on the hour mark.
Now sitting eighth in England's third tier with just six points on the board from their last five games and sitting four points behind sixth-placed Reading with five games left to play, any lingering playoff hopes for Huddersfield Town are dependent on a winning run beginning in Saturday's trip.
Team News
Burton Albion head into the weekend without midfielder Charlie Webster, who is suspended after his red card in last week's defeat to Wrexham.
The Brewers also continue to contend with several injury issues, as Nick Akoto, Ciaran Gilligan, Ryan Sweeney, James Jones and Jon Dadi Bodvarsson are set to remain confined to the treatment room.
In the absence of Bodvarsson and Webster, Fabio Tavares may join Julian Larsson in support of front man Rumarn Burrell, who has netted all eight of his League One goals this season in his last 17 appearances since the turn of the year.
Huddersfield Town continue to be impacted by a long injury list, with defenders Brodie Spencer, Nigel Lonwijk and Tom Lees, midfielder Herbie Kane and attackers Rhys Healey and Danny Ward remaining sidelined.
Defender Mickel Miller and striker Dion Charles were fit to start in Tuesday's meeting with Wycombe, though, and the former should again line up on the left-hand side of the back line alongside Josh Ruffels, Matty Pearson and Lasse Sorensen.
Joe Taylor, Josh Koroma and Callum Marshall, who leads the squad with 10 goals this season, will compete to come into the attack from the start after Ben Wiles and Ruben Roosken supported Charles last time out.
Burton Albion possible starting lineup:
Crocombe; Godwin-Malife, Armer, Sraha; Lofthouse, McKiernan, Chauke, Dodgson; Larsson, Burrell, Tavares
Huddersfield Town possible starting lineup:
Nicholls; Sorensen, Pearson, Ruffels, Miller; Evans, Kasumu; Koroma, Wiles, Marshall; Taylor
We say: Burton Albion 2-1 Huddersfield Town
Aiming to rebound from their midweek setback and escape the bottom four, we back a Burton Albion side who are buoyed under Gary Bowyer to get the better of the visitors, who are yet to end their dismal run in 2025 under the interim management of Worthington.
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Sam Varley
