Blackpool will continue their hunt for a first Championship win of the season on Tuesday following their promotion last year, as they welcome Coventry City.
Coventry survived the drop in their first campaign back in the Championship last year, eventually dragging themselves comfortably away from the bottom three, and they will be keen to build a strong run to begin the new season.
Match preview
© Reuters
In their fourth straight year in England's third tier, Neil Critchley led Blackpool into last season with the aim of finally earning promotion back to the Championship.
While they never mounted a challenge for a top-two spot, a major upturn in form in the second half of the season saw the Tangerines break into the playoff places, eventually finishing in third spot thanks to a run of four straight victories to finish the regular campaign.
That saw them handed a semi-final tie with Oxford United, and Critchley's men would cruise through to Wembley with a 6-3 aggregate win before a Kenneth Dougall brace overturned an early one-goal deficit to see them defeat Lincoln City 2-1 and book their place back in the second tier of English football.
Coming into the season as relative underdogs, Blackpool earned a creditable point in their opening game, as Shayne Lavery equalised in the 93rd minute to see them draw 1-1 away against Bristol City.
They then built confidence with a resounding 3-0 victory over Middlesbrough in the EFL Cup first round, as Lavery again got on the scoresheet alongside Callum Connolly and Keshi Anderson.
That did not translate into the following league game though, as they suffered a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Cardiff City on Saturday, as Leandro Bacuna put the visiting Bluebirds ahead early in the second half before Kieffer Moore sealed all three points with a late finish.
Critchley's men will be desperate not to fall behind at an early stage of the season and will go in search of an important first league win to kickstart their campaign and survival bid.
© Reuters
They take on a Coventry City side who will only be looking up the table this season after last year's impressive finish.
Upon their promotion back to the Championship, Mark Robins's side found themselves embroiled in a heated relegation battle, sitting dangerously close to the bottom three at the beginning of March as Wycombe Wanderers, Rotherham United, Sheffield Wednesday and Birmingham City were all battling to get away from the scramble before the end of the season.
As it turned out, the Sky Blues would escape the battle in the latter section of the campaign, producing an excellent run in the final 12 games to collect 20 points thanks to six wins, including crucial back-to-back victories over relegation rivals Rotherham and Derby.
By the end of the season, the Midlands outfit had comfortably taken themselves out of the battle for survival, with a 6-1 thrashing of Millwall on the final day sealing a more than commendable 16th-placed finish, 12 points above the drop zone.
Robins's men began this season with a dramatic 2-1 win over Nottingham Forest in their first game back in their home ground after several years of disputes, as captain Kyle McFadzean hit a 96th-minute winner after Viktor Gyokeres drew them level with 10 minutes to go.
They then suffered a disappointing 2-1 cup defeat to Northampton Town, before being narrowly defeated 1-0 by Barnsley on Saturday, with Gyokeres squandering the chance to snatch a point as his injury-time winner was denied by Bradley Collins.
The Sky Blues will now look to bounce back from those consecutive defeats and put another three-point haul on the board in their bid to kickstart the season with a strong run of form as they push for a top-half finish.
- D
- L
- D
- W
- L
- W
- L
- W
- L
- L
Team News
© Reuters
Blackpool come into Tuesday's game without Kevin Stewart and Demetri Mitchell, as they continue to recover from injuries.
Shayne Lavery should be given a start up front after finding the net off the bench in the cup victory and hitting the equaliser in the opening league game, with Tyreece John-Jules failing to threaten in the recent Championship outing.
He would join Jerry Yates, who fired the Tangerines to promotion last season with 20 goals in the regular League One campaign.
Winger Josh Bowler should also be brought into the side to shake up the attacking ranks after a goalless performance last time out.
Coventry City are set to come into the game with a fairly clean bill of health, and Mark Robins should avoid making wholesale changes despite the loss last time out, as his side were the better of the two for large portions of that encounter.
One of the only absentees is forward Matt Godden, who was crucial in their promotion to the Championship, and the pair of Tyler Walker and Viktor Gyokeres should again lead the line in his absence.
They will be supported by the attacking threat of Callum O'Hare, who caught eyes last season and at the beginning of this campaign with his impressive performances going forward, including an eye-catching piece of play to supply Gyokeres for the equaliser against Nottingham Forest.
Blackpool possible starting lineup:
Maxwell; Connolly, Keogh, Husband, Garbutt; Bowler, Dougall, Ward, Anderson; Yates, Lavery
Coventry City possible starting lineup:
Moore; Hyam, McFadzean, Clark-Salter; Dabo, Hamer, Allen, Maatsen; O'Hare; Walker, Gyokeres
We say: Blackpool 0-2 Coventry City
While Blackpool will be desperate to pick up their first league win of the season, we see the slightly superior Coventry City squad claiming all three points from Tuesday's clash.
The Tangerines' attack has not looked threatening so far, and while Jerry Yates could turn that around when he finds his groove in the Championship, we see their slow start continuing for now.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Blackpool win with a probability of 43.18%. A draw had a probability of 29.2% and a win for Coventry City had a probability of 27.66%.
The most likely scoreline for a Blackpool win was 1-0 with a probability of 14.38%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (8.8%) and 2-1 (8.07%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (13.19%), while for a Coventry City win it was 0-1 (10.78%). The actual scoreline of 0-1 was predicted with a 10.8% likelihood.
