Since the win against Port Vale, Walsall’s form has taken a dip. The well organised performance that was put in has not been replicated since.
The Saddlers have a chance to rectify this against a Crawley side who have only won twice in their last ten games. However Walsall have faced these low form teams before, and the results do not tend to go their way.
Crawley Town
Crawley are more well known for their outspoken manager John Yems than pretty much anything else. He can always be relied on for a slightly different post match interview.
Yems and Crawley are struggling. The Red Devils went out of the FA Cup, EFL Trophy and Carabao Cup all out the first hurdle, and see themselves sat in 19th place.
Two wins in ten is adding more pressure, as another season seems to be slipping by for Crawley, but the team do have it’s threats.
Kwesi Appiah has been the player of the season, with eight goals in 19 games. After a career mostly spent on loan, it does seem as though he has found a home at Crawley.
Elsewhere in the side, Jack Powell is important in the centre of midfield as is Jake Hessenthaler.
Their are a couple of elder statesmen in the team. In goal, many lower league fans will know Glenn Morris, and in the heart of defence is Tony Craig. Craig has over 500 league appearances in the EFL, predominantly in League One and the Championship.
Walsall
The Saddlers are on a pretty poor run of form that may have been papered over by the win at Port Vale. In the three games either side of that game, Walsall failed to win.
It has seen them exit the EFL Trophy and FA Cup, as well as lose ground that they were making up in the table.
The two big concerns are a lack of scoring goals, and conceding goals from simple mistakes too. Both not ideal for winning games.
George Miller has become more isolated up top, despite having several combinations of players playing around them.
There have been calls for Walsall to play with two strikers, and tonight would be an ideal opportunity to try it out. Phillips has played well in a striker role, so seeing them together could be an option.
Defensively, Mills may be playing instead of Ward, which provides him the chance to impress and nail down a first team position.
It is unlikely that Taylor will make several changes to the team, but he will have to instill the work rate and desire that was displayed in their last victory.
Although promotion would be a big ask, Walsall only sit six points off the play-off’s. A win tonight would at least keep them in the pack of potentials, and give the fans something exciting to keep up with after what has been a poor week of cup exits.
