Separated by just one point in the National League standings, Southend United and Barnet face off against each other at Roots Hall on Tuesday.
The hosts are unbeaten in six consecutive league games heading into the clash, while the visitors have failed to win any of their last five league outings.
Match preview
Off the back of dropping points for the first time in 2022, Southend United claimed a narrow 1-0 victory over Dover in the sides' meeting at the Crabble Athletic Ground on Saturday.
The game was decided with just under 20 minutes left on the clock, as Noor Husin broke the deadlock to hand Kevin Maher's men a well-deserved three points.
Having picked up 13 of a possible 15 points since the turn of the year, The Seasiders have moved up to 16th in the league table and are now well clear of relegation danger.
They will be looking to continue this fine run of form against an opposing side who have won just one of the last eight meetings between the sides since 2005.
However, that only defeat came in the most recent encounter five years ago, when Tuesday's hosts were beaten 2-0 with both teams plying their trades in League Two then.
Barnet suffered a second straight home defeat following a 5-0 thrashing against current league leaders Stockport at The Hive Stadium on Saturday.
Will Collar opened the scoring right on the stroke of half time before second-half goals from Liam Hogan and Connor Jennings sandwiched in between a Ryan Johnson brace put the result beyond doubt.
Dean Brennan's men have slipped to 17th place in the standings with a playoff place now seemingly impossible as they currently have an 18-point gap to make up.
Tuesday's visitors did avoid defeat in their last involvement away from home and will be confident of picking up another positive result on the road.
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Team News
Sam Dalby and Matthew Dennis have both scored in two of Southend's last three home matches and will aim to inspire their team to victory once again.
Twenty-four-year-old Noor Husin opened his account for his new employers last time out having recently joined from Dartford for whom he scored three goals in his final three appearances.
With nine goals shipped in his side's last two matches, we expect head coach Brennan to make some alterations to his defensive unit for this one.
Reiss Greenidge could make way for Ben Richards-Everton in the starting XI after he was subbed off at half time against Stockport in favour of the latter.
Southend United possible starting lineup:
Arnold; Davies, Lopata, Hobson, Ralph; Clifford, Atkinson, Husin, Dennis; Dalby, Cardwell
Barnet possible starting lineup:
Oxborough; Turley, Hall, Brundle, Powell, Mason-Clark; Richards-Everton, Fonguck, Taylor; Beard, Woods
We say: Southend United 2-1 Barnet
Southend are in better form ahead of the contest and coupled with the added advantage of playing on home turf, we fancy them to come out on top at the end of the 90 minutes.
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 Southend United win with a probability of 57.25%. A draw had a probability of 22.4% and a win for Barnet had a probability of 20.31%.
The most likely scoreline for a Southend United win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.42%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.91%) and 2-0 (9.73%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.61%), while for a Barnet win it was 0-1 (5.68%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with a 9.9% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted a 2-1 win for Southend United in this match and our data analysis correctly predicted the win for Southend United.
