Two teams in the bottom half of the League One table square off at Abbey Stadium on Friday night as Cambridge United play host to Exeter City.
While the U's have won five of their last six matches on home soil in all competitions, the Grecians have not celebrated a third-tier away win since the beginning of September.
Match preview
© Reuters
After ending the month of November with three successive League One defeats, Cambridge have since made an unbeaten start to December, with a thumping 4-0 win over Fleetwood Town in the FA Cup second round followed by a respectable 2-2 draw at Charlton Athletic and an impressive 2-1 home win over Blackpool last weekend.
Newly-appointed head coach Neil Harris was in the dugout for the last two matches and he celebrated his first victory against the Tangerines, as goals from Elias Kachunga and Gassan Ahadme helped the U's to come from behind to claim maximum points, despite playing the final 11 minutes with 10 men.
Success over Blackpool has seen Cambridge catapult up to 16th in the League One table and move eight points clear of the relegation zone, while a victory on Friday against a struggling Exeter outfit could see the U's move level on points with Northampton Town in 12th place.
Cambridge have fared much better on home soil so far this season as they have picked up 18 of their 24 points at Abbey Stadium, while they have also won their last two home meetings with Exeter by a 2-1 scoreline, which bodes well ahead of Friday's contest.
In stark contrast to the hosts, Exeter find themselves down in the dumps following a miserable 12-game winless run in League One, losing nine matches and conceding 27 goals in the process.
However, manager Gary Caldwell was able to take some positives from the club's 1-1 draw at Stevenage last weekend, a game in which Jack Aitchison was sent off before Yanic Wildschut cancelled out an opener from Carl Piergianni to rescue a valuable point for the Grecians.
Caldwell hopes that the hard-fought draw will be "the turning point" in their season as they attempt to push themselves out of the relegation picture and climb from their current position of 20th in the third-tier standings.
September 16 was the last time that Exeter claimed all three points in a league fixture, beating basement club Cheltenham Town 1-0, and they will fancy their chances of putting an end to their poor form on Friday considering that they beat Cambridge 2-0 in their most recent meeting in February.
Team News
© Reuters
After naming the same starting lineup for his first two games in charge of Cambridge, Harris will be forced to make at least one change to his side on Friday as Paul Digby is suspended following his red card last weekend.
The absence of Digby will likely see either George Thomas or Adam May handed a start in centre-midfield alongside Jordan Cousins, while Kachunga, Sullay Kaikai and James Brophy are all set to continue providing support in attack for central striker Ahadme.
As for Exeter, Aitchison will serve a one-match ban following his red card last weekend, but Will Aimson is available to return from his own one-game suspension and could take the place of Cheick Diabate at centre-back.
Having operated with a three-man defence for much of this season, Caldwell may decide to stick with a back four used in the draw at Stevenage last time out, while James Scott could deputise in attack in the absence of Aitchison.
Cambridge United possible starting lineup:
Stevens; L. Bennett, Okedina, Morrison, Andrew; Digby, Thomas; Kaikai, Kachunga, Brophy; Ahadme
Exeter City possible starting lineup:
Sinisalo; Sweeney, Aimson, Hartridge, Jules; Rankine, Carroll, Cole, Trevitt, Nisaknen; Scott
We say: Cambridge United 2-1 Exeter City
Both teams will view Friday's fixture as a winnable game in their quest to climb further adrift of the bottom four, but the momentum is with a rejuvenated Cambridge outfit and they should have enough firepower at their disposal to outscore Exeter on home soil.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
