The Saddlers will be hoping to put the last two away performances behind us as we now have three home league games on the bounce, starting with Wycombe Wanderers.
TEAM NEWS
WALSALL
Walsall boss Dean Keates still has long term absentees Joe Edwards, Adam Chambers and Kory Roberts missing from his matchday squad however everyone else is fit and ready to go for Wycombe.
Following the last two performances and lack of goals you would imagine Deano will shuffle the pack again hoping to fall back on the formation and side which started the season well. I’d expect Devlin to come back into the side to give us more going forward and I would expect Ismail to come back into the fold at the expense of Ginnelly.
WYCOMBE
Wycombe have no fresh injury worries. Former Walsall loanee and player of the season Jason McCarthy will make a return to the Banks’s Stadium.
LIKELY LINE UPS?
Walsall – Roberts, Devlin, Guthrie, Fitzwater, Leahy, Ismail, Dobson, Osbourne, Morris, Ferrier, Cook
Wycombe – Allsop, McCarthy, Harriman, El-Abd, Jacobson, Cowan-Hall, Thompson, Morris, Onyedima, Akinfenwa, Samuel
ONES TO WATCH
WALSALL STRIKE FORCE
The Saddlers have only scored fifteen goals in fourteen league games which is not going to be enough to continue our challenge at the right end of the table.
Goals need to come from all areas but Ferrier, Cook and Gordon have now gone five league games without scoring.
ADEBAYO AKINFENWA
The man nicknamed the beast comes face to face with a Walsall defence struggling on aerial threats! The Saddlers have conceded four out the last five goals from set pieces so unless Martin is fit to play the nerves will set in every time Akinfenwa goes near the ball.
Akinfenwa is showing no sign of stopping despite being thirty-six years young – he has scored five goals and assisted six goals in the first fourteen games of the season.
PAST MEETINGS
The Saddlers have faced Wycombe on twenty occasions – Walsall 10, Draw 4, Wycombe 6
The Saddlers have not lost in our last eight games against Wycombe – winning six and drawing two.
It has been twenty years since the Saddlers lost at home to Wycombe.
Our last five home league games v Wycombe
18.02.12 – Walsall 2-0 Wycombe
05.04.10 – Walsall 2-1 Wycombe
14.10.06 – Walsall 2-0 Wycombe
20.12.05 – Walsall 3-2 Wycombe
24.03.01 – Walsall 5-1 Wycombe
MATCH OFFICIALS
REFREE – NEIL HAIR
Linesmen – Richard Bartlett & Mark Cunliffe
Fourth Official – Richard Gardner
Hair has officiated ten games so far this season dishing out twenty-seven yellow cards, three reds and awarded three penalties.
Hair has never officiated a game involving the Saddlers only having just stepped up from non-league.
MATCH PREDICTION
We have not lost against Wycombe at home for twenty years – winning the last five, so it would be stupid to predict anything other than a Walsall victory.
Despite our lack of goals and our poor form of late I expect us to get back to winning ways this weekend.
VITAL PREDICTION – WALSALL 2-0 WYCOMBE
UP NEXT
Saturday 3rd November
Sky Bet League 1
Walsall v Burton
