Forest Green Rovers vs Exeter City Match Analysis and Prediction

5 years ago 656

Exeter City will be traveling to face Forest Green Rovers for their next League Two fixture on Tuesday, with the hosts looking to extend their laed at the top of the League Two standings to 10 points.

With the hosts being well on their way to promotion, playoff hopefuls Exeter have failed to win any of their last five matches in the division.

Having picked up a 5-5 draw against struggling Oldham Athletic on December 11, Forest Green manager Rob Edwards would have wished to get back to action as soon as possible.

However, coronavirus-related postponements have forced the league leaders to go through a three-week break until New Year’s Day, when they hosted Stevenage.

That was in many ways an ideal return-to-action fixture, and two second-half goals confirmed a comfortable victory, extending their unbeaten League Two record to 10 matches.

With Edwards not being overly satisfied with that performance itself, three points and a clean sheet represented the perfect afternoon ahead of another fixture at The New Lawn.

Jamille Matt has contributed six goals in his last four league appearances, adding on to his record to 14 goals from 21 starts.

Meanwhile, Exeter have spent much of the season competing for automatic promotion, an outcome of a three-month undefeated period which included 15 matches.

However, they have collected just one point from their last five travels, Matt Taylor’s side now sitting two points off the playoff places.

Having taken their own three-week break, Exeter were close to drawing with Sutton United at the weekend, only to fall to a 2-1 defeat through an 89th-minute winner.

However, they should note that their meeting with Forest Green Rovers completes a set of four consecutive fixtures against the top four teams in the division, a reason to put their recent plight into context.

Forest Green Rovers vs Exeter City head to head

The two teams have previously met 22 times across all competitions, where Exeter are leading with 10 victories while Forest Green have 2, and they have drawn in 10. Exeter have scored 35 goals and conceded 22. In their last five meetings, Exeter have won two and they have drawn in three.

Forest Green Rovers 0-1 Exeter City 01/01/20

Exeter City 3-2 Forest Green Rovers 08/09/20

Exeter City 1-1 Forest Green Rovers 26/12/20

Forest Green Rovers 0-0 Exeter City 20/04/21

Exeter City 0-0 Forest Green Rovers 04/09/21

Forest Green Rovers latest home form

Forest Green have recently lost to Chelsea U21 through penalty shootouts after a 1-1 draw in the EFL Trophy in their second-last game. However, they have been on a good run of form at home, having not lost in any of their last four League Two matches, winning in all.

Forest Green Rovers 3-1 Salford City 23/10/21

Forest Green Rovers 2-0 Barrow 23/11/21

Forest Green Rovers 2-0 Bristol Rovers 27/11/21

Forest Green Rovers 1-1(P) Chelsea U21 30/11/21

Forest Green Rovers 2-0 Stevenage 01/01/22

Forest Green Rovers latest away form

Forest Green have recently lost 3-2 to St Albans City in the FA Cup on November 7. However, they have been on a good run of form on the road in the league, having not lost in any of their last five League Two away matches, winning two and drawing three.

St Albans City 3-2 Forest Green Rovers 07/11/21

Walsall 0-2 Forest Green Rovers 10/11/21

Hartlepool United 1-3 Forest Green Rovers 20/11/21

Harrogate Town 1-4 Forest Green Rovers 07/12/21

Oldham Athletic 5-5 Forest Green Rovers 11/12/21

Exeter City latest home form

Exeter have been on a good run of form in much of the season at home. However, they have lost in their last two most recent home matches to Northampton Town and Tranmere Rovers. In their last five home matches, they have won three and lost two in the process.

Exeter City 2-1 Oldham Athletic 13/11/21

Exeter City 2-1 Carlisle United 20/11/21

Exeter City 2-1 Bradford City 30/11/21

Exeter City 1-2 Northamptom Town 07/12/21

Exeter City 0-1 Tranmere Rovers 11/12/21

Exeter City latest away form

Exeter have most recently been on a poor run of form on the road, as they have failed to record any victory in their last four away matches, drawing in one and losing three. Their last away win came on October 30 when they defeated Salford City 2-1 in the league.

Bradford City 1-1 Exeter City 06/11/21

Colchester United 3-1 Exeter City 23/11/21

Rochdale 1-1 Exeter City 27/11/21

Cambridge United 2-1 Exeter City 04/12/21

Sutton United 2-1 Exeter City 01/01/21

Forest Green Rovers news

With the exception of any unforeseen selection issues, Edwards is likely to stick to the same Forest Green first XI that played against Stevenage at the weekend.

With the key players having been rested during the closing stages, the same bunch of players should be fully recovered for the Tuesday’s fixture.

Exeter City news

Matt Taylor is likely to stick to the same side that played against Sutton. However, he had acknowledged that some players were not fit given their lack of preparations.

Cheick Diabate will be assessed after suffering with cramp on his league debut, while Matt Jay is in contention for a recall.

Prediction and Odds

Exeter have recently been unable to keep their form both at home and away, losing in their last three league matches.

Forest Green on their side, have been impressive in much of the season, and we expect them to use their quality to overcome their opponents and take the victory.

Odds: 1 1.60 X 2.90 2 3.10