High-flying Port Vale could climb to the top of League Two with a victory at home against promotion hopefuls Bradford City on Saturday afternoon.
The visitors, meanwhile, are looking to extend their unbeaten away run in the league to three matches and finish the weekend in the playoffs.
Match preview
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Port Vale have enjoyed an impressive run of form in front of goal over the past month or so, scoring 21 goals in their last six matches across all competitions.
A 4-1 victory away against Crawley in their most recent league game was followed by a thumping 5-1 triumph at home to League One outfit Accrington Stanley in the FA Cup first round, before cruising to a 5-0 win in the EFL Trophy against Liverpool Under-21s on Tuesday.
Darrell Clarke's men have climbed up the League Two standings into second place, just three points behind leaders Forest Green Rovers, after a run of seven victories and two draws in their last 10 league matches.
Hopes of a return to the third tier for the first time since 2016-17 are now looking promising, though there is still a long way to go and plenty of challenging fixtures ahead, including Saturday's contest with Bradford.
The Valiants have lost only one of their last six meetings against the Bantams and a victory on home soil could see them move to the top of the table on goal difference, as Forest Green do not play this weekend after their fixture was postponed due to the international break.
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After an underwhelming September and an inconsistent start to October, Bradford City ended last month with two positive results against fellow promotion hopefuls Swindon Town and Forest Green.
A 3-1 victory away against the Robins was followed by a 1-1 draw at home to the league leaders, which means the Bantams have moved to within two points of the playoffs and six points behind the automatic promotion places.
Since then, Bradford have played out a 1-1 draw at home against Exeter City in the FA Cup first round last weekend, before beating League One giants Sunderland 4-2 on penalties in the group stages of the EFL Trophy on Tuesday, though their time in this competition has now come to an end after finishing bottom of Group F.
Derek Adams will now be hoping that his side can build on recent performances and put a run of victories together in League Two after claiming only two wins in their last 11 league games.
Bradford suffered a 2-1 defeat at Vale Park last season, but a victory on Saturday could seem them climb as high as sixth and into the playoffs.
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Team News
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Port Vale will be without striker Jamie Proctor, who underwent a hernia operation last week, while Devante Rodney and Alex Hurst also remain sidelined with injuries.
Without Procter's presence in attack, former Manchester United forward James Wilson – who scored a hat-trick against Accrington last week – will be relied upon again to find the net for the hosts, while the likes of Dennis Politic and Tom Conlon are expected to provide support in the final third.
As for Bradford, forward Caolan Lavery and winger Abo Eisa remain on the sidelines with injuries, though defender Niall Canavan has returned to full fitness and will be in contention to start on Saturday.
Striker Theo Robinson, who joined the Bantams from Port Vale over the summer, will be hoping he can lead the line against his former club either ahead of or alongside Andy Cook, who has seven league goals to his name so far this campaign.
Port Vale possible starting lineup:
Covolan; Cass, Smith, Jones; Worrall, Pett, Garrity, Benning; Conlon, Politic; Wilson
Bradford City possible starting lineup:
O'Donnell; Threlkeld, Songo'o, O'Connor, Ridehalgh; Watt, Sutton; Gilliead, Cooke, Vernam; Cook
We say: Port Vale 2-1 Bradford City
After impressive results against Swindon and Forest Green – both currently positioned in the top five – Bradford will be hoping to take another scalp in League Two against Port Vale on Saturday.
However, the hosts are in fine form and are scoring goals for fun at present, so their firepower should help them come away with all three points at Vale Park.
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 Port Vale win with a probability of 48.2%. A draw had a probability of 26.1% and a win for Bradford City had a probability of 25.65%.
The most likely scoreline for a Port Vale win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.31%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.18%) and 2-0 (9.13%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.38%), while for a Bradford City win it was 0-1 (8.36%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with a 12.4% likelihood.
