Form Guide… 

7th placed Swindon drew midweek against Sheffield United, making our six match league form 2 wins, 3 draws and 1 defeat. On our travels, Town won 4-0 at Stevenage a fortnight ago making our six match form record 4 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat – the 3rd best in the division.

16th placed Walsall are without a win in their previous 7 League One matches with 2 draws and 4 defeats. Like Swindon – they failed to beat non-league opposition in the FA Cup 1st Round, drawing 1-1 away at Lincoln City. At the Bescot Stadium, the Saddlers are winless in 4 matches, with a record of 2 wins, 1 draw and 3 defeat in six League One games, including a 4-1 drubbing by Scunthorpe in midweek.

Swindon-Town-FC.co.uk Head-to-Head…

In all League, FA Cup and Football League competitions, Town have faced Walsall on 88 occasions, winning 32, drawing 25 and suffering 31 defeats, scoring 130 goals and conceding 134.

At the Bescot, Town have 11 wins, 12 draws and 20 defeats, with 41 scored and 73 conceded.

Swindon are undefeated in the past 5 meetings between the two sides, with a record of 2 wins, 2 score draws and 1 goalless draw.

Town have avoided defeat on the previous two trips to the West Midlands – a 1-1 (Paynter) draw in September 2009 and 2-1 (Sheehan and Pericard) victory in September 2010.

The Stats…

Defence					Attack
	Wal (Hosts)	r	STFC (Away)	r		Wal (Hosts)	r	STFC  (Away)	r
Shots Against Per Game	12.6	24	7.1	1	Shots For Per Game	12.9	6	10.9	6
% Shots Against on Target	50.5%	14	43.9%	6	% Shots For on Target	47.6%	14	57.5%	3
% Save Rate	68.6%	16	64%	21	% Strike Rate	10.7%	17	13.8%	11
Corners Against Per Game	7	24	4.9	4	Corners Won Per Game	6.1	11	8	1
Possession Conceded	47.3%	8	45.5%	3	Possession Won	52.3%	8	54.5%	3
R = rank: The ranking shown for each measure indicates the efficiency of the sides against the rest of the division as either hosts or the away side | 1 equals the best and 24 is the worst | TheWashbag.com

Walsall are ranked very low in many of the defensive assessments, indicating Town will have plenty of shots and corners; but will we make best use of those likely chances and improve upon our 13.8% strike rate…

SCORED	1-15	16-30	31-45	45+	46-60	61-75	76-90	90+
Wal (as hosts)	1	5	1	0	3	0	0	1
STFC (away)	1	3	4	0	2	1	1	0

Watch out for Walsall between 16-30 minutes! Don’t worry in the final 30 minutes…

Town are dangerous between 16-45 minutes with 7 of our 12 goals scored.

CONCEDED	1-15	16-30	31-45	45+	46-60	61-75	76-90	90+
Wal (as hosts)	4	4	1	0	2	1	2	2
STFC (away)	3	2	2	0	0	1	0	1

Walsall’s opponent’s have come good in the opening half an hour, scoring 50% of the total goals against them.

Swindon have equally been susceptible to conceding early in away games.

My prediction… 

It’s our away form which is keeping us afloat and around the play-off picture, so this bodes well against a side in a poor run of form. 2-0 to Swindon.

Come on You Reds!