Carlisle United are looking to claw their way out of the League One relegation zone as they face Bristol Rovers this weekend.
Carlisle United currently sit 21st in League One with three wins, five draws and eight losses from sixteen games so far this season.
Carlisle have, expectedly, had a tough time of things in League One this season following their shock promotion from League Two last time out but while they currently sit in the relegation zone they have shown enough to suggest that survival is a very realistic goal.
They're coming into this game in mixed form on the whole having won two and lost three of their last five league games, the most recent of which was a 1-0 loss at Cambridge United.
The result at Cambridge was a disappointing one given they were coming off a 2-1 win against Burton Albion and missed the chance to build on that run and start o accumulate some much-needed momentum.
Carlisle's home form is pretty up and down, too, as they enter this game having won two, drawn one and lost two of their last five games on home soil.
Carlisle badly need a win here as they need to try and pull away from the bottom four and while this is no easy fixture it certainly falls into the category of winnable.
Bristol Rovers currently sit 12th in League One with five wins, five draws and five losses from fifteen games so far this season.
With a record like that, Rovers have been the dictionary definition of inconsistent this season and it's that lack of decisiveness that led to manager Joey Barton losing his job.
Since Barton was removed from his post Rovers have taken four points from their two league games, with a 2-1 win over Northampton Town recently followed up with a 1-1 draw away at Reading.
The draw in Reading was a fairly poor result all things considered with the Royals rooted to the foot of the table with just six points at the time, so failure to produce three points there was quite an indictment of Rovers.
They're actually winless in any of their last four games away from home so they could find matters tricky here against a hungry Carlisle side.
This game is a tough one to predict and it feels as though the result could tip either way, but we think the home side may just edge this one for a massive three points.
For our Carlisle vs. Bristol Rovers prediction, we're going for a 2-1 win for the home side.
Don’t forget to check out the rest of our previews, tips and offers for this weekend’s action.
