Sports Mole previews Saturday’s League One clash between Cambridge United and Burton Albion, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Managerless Burton Albion will travel to Abbey Stadium for Saturday’s League One clash with relegation rivals Cambridge United.
The hosts are languishing at the foot of the League One table, while the visitors are just three points better off in 23rd place.
Match preview
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Cambridge endured a woeful start to the 2024-25 season, with their first nine league matches producing one draw and eight defeats.
However, the U’s have given their campaign some much-needed impetus in the last week, having recorded consecutive 2-0 victories.
After getting the better of Wigan Athletic, Cambridge went on to claim an away win over Stevenage in midweek thanks to goals from Korey Smith and Sullay Kaikai.
Despite claiming consecutive wins, the U’s still have work to do to escape the drop zone with four points separating them from safety ahead of the weekend’s round of fixtures.
Cambridge will be hoping to close that gap by recording three consecutive league victories in the same season for the first time since January 2022.
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Burton are searching for a new permanent manager after opting to sack Mark Robinson following Tuesday’s defeat to Wycombe Wanderers.
Danilo Orsi and Charlie Webster grab a goal apiece to help Burton fight back on two occasions, but the Brewers were unable to provide another response to Daniel Udoh‘s 81st-minute winner.
The Burton hierarchy ultimately felt it was time for a change after Robinson had failed to win any of his 11 league games in charge (D4, L7), leaving the Brewers languishing at the foot of the table with just four points to their name.
Tom Hounsell has been placed in interim charge, and he will be tasked with ending a run of six consecutive league defeats in Saturday’s away fixture.
Burton have avoided defeat in their last three games against Cambridge (W2, D1), although they have failed to win their previous three away meetings (D1, L2) since they recorded a 3-2 victory at Abbey Stadium in May 2015.
Cambridge United League One form:
Burton Albion League One form:
Burton Albion form (all competitions):
Team News
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Cambridge forward Dan Barton is expected to be out until December with a knee injury he sustained in last month’s defeat to Lincoln City.
Manager Garry Monk will also have to cope without the injured trio of Gary Gardner, Shayne Lavery and Josh Stokes.
Danny Andrew could be recalled to the Cambridge backline, while Kaikai could be rewarded with a start after he came off the bench to score the second goal of Tuesday’s 2-0 win over Stevenage.
As for the visitors, they are expected to be without Geraldo Bajrami, Jack Hazlehurst, Billy Bodin and Julian Larsson.
Lithuania international Tomas Kalinauskas is in contention for a recall after coming off the bench to play around half an hour in midweek.
Orsi will be looking to continue his impressive goalscoring form after finding the net in each of the last four matches.
Cambridge United possible starting lineup:
Reyes; Okedina, Morrison, Andrew; Bennett, Digby, Smith, Brophy; Kachunga, Kaikai, N’Lundulu
Burton Albion possible starting lineup:
Isted; Vancooten, Sweeney, Bannon; Whitfield, Webster, Watt, Bennett; Kalinauskas, Cooper-Love; Orsi
We say: Cambridge United 2-1 Burton Albion
Cambridge will have a renewed sense of belief after recording back-to-back victories, and we think they will continue to build momentum by claiming a narrow home victory to condemn their relegation rivals to a seventh consecutive league defeat.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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