Crawley Town v Walsall preview: Can Reds make it four clean sheets and four wins on trot?

It’s a tale of two teams in opposite form as Crawley approach the game in good form, having won their previous three games 1-0.

As for Walsall they have found themselves tumbling down the table with just one win since the turn of the year and two wins in their last 15 games, with both of these wins coming against Port Vale.

Losing their main goal threat Elijah Adebayo to Luton Town in January has dealt a big blow to the Saddlers, who since his departure have struggled massively for goals, scoring just four times in eight games since his departure.

They also were left without a manager when Darrell Clarke made the decision to swap Walsall for fellow League Two strugglers Port Vale, which seemed a strange decision to many. Although the Saddlers were struggling for a while before Clarke’s departure, they haven’t won a game since he left for Port Vale, with Brian Dutton picking up just two points from an available 21 since he took over from Darrell Clarke.

It’s been an awful run since the start of 2021, which has seen Walsall go from play-off contenders to a relegation scrap. Their 1-0 defeat at home to struggling Barrow demonstrated their problems as they are struggling to pick up points against anyone at the moment. It’s a side that seem to have zero confidence and look like a completely different side to the Walsall side that beat Crawley 1-0 at the Bescott Stadium in November.

That was a disappointing night for Crawley and they’ll certainly be looking to rectify that on Tuesday night with another win at The People’s Pension Stadium. The Red Devils look to be building up some consistency with three wins and clean sheets in a row. However, Crawley need to start beating some of the sides nearer the bottom of the table, with the likes of Grimsby and Southend taking points off the Reds this season.

With three games Crawley are likely to be favourites in coming up they need to be taking at least seven points, especially given their form recently against teams above them. That run of three games starts on Tuesday against Walsall and continues the next two Saturdays against Barrow and Port Vale.

These are games that teams with aspirations of play-offs should be winning and Crawley should feel confident of picking up plenty of points given their recent form. Although Saturday's game against Mansfield didn’t produce one of Crawley’s better displays in recent weeks, they still managed to find a way with substitute James Tilley getting a winner in stoppage time.

Tilley will be pushing for a start and giving John Yems a selection headache as his bright performance in a friendly against Dorking Wanderers and his winner against Mansfield have shown he has plenty of talent and could get in the starting eleven on either wing, which would likely see him replace Jake Hesketh or Jordan Maguire-Drew.

It will be a difficult decision for Yems, with his side performing brilliantly at the moment and no one deserves to be dropped, showing the talent within this Crawley squad.