James Heneghan's Crewe Alexandra v Northampton Town preview

Date/time: Saturday, August 20, 3pm kick-off

Venue: Gresty Road

Forecast: Sunny spells, 22C

Outs and doubts: Crewe: Charlie Colkett, Chris Long, Rod McDonald, Bassala Sambou, Dave Richards, Rio Adebisi. Cobblers: Aaron McGowan, Sam Sherring, Jack Sowerby, Akin Odimayo.

Betting: Crewe 11/5, draw 12/5, Northampton 5/4

Form guide: Crewe WLLWW, Cobblers WWLDW

Current league positions: 6th v 3rd

Possible line-ups: Crewe (4-2-3-1): Okonkwo; Mellor, Offord, Sass-Davies, Williams; Thomas, Uwakwe; Brook, Ainley, Agyei; Baker-Richardson. Northampton (4-3-3): Burge; Lintott, Magloire, Guthrie, Koiki; McWilliams, Fox, Leonard; Pinnock, Hoskins, Hylton.

Man in the middle: David Webb

Last time out: Crewe 1 (Baker-Richardson) Sutton 0; Crawley 2 Northampton 3 (Hoskins 2, Bowie).

Most recent meeting: March 20, 2021 – Northampton 0 Crewe 1 (Dale)

Record v Crewe: P71 W29 D16 L26

What Jon Brady said: "They have had a great start as well and we are playing at their place so it will be really tough, but we feel we are in a good place and we are confident and we're really looking forward to the game. Over the years their DNA has been about the way they play and developing young talent and I think that's a really good model. They have been very successful. That's by the by at the weekend, it's about what happens on the pitch and we believe we can get a result if we are at our best.”

What they said: “Our currency at home has to be wins and clean sheets,” said Crewe boss Alex Morris. “I think that’s the case for everybody because home form dictates how strong your season will be and then you have to chip away at those away wins which are like gold dust. We have already won our two home games and if we can start with a third win on the spin, everybody will be happy.”

Prediction: Crewe Alexandra 1 Northampton Town 1