While the international football continues in mid-week, there is no rest for the teams in English League One and Gillingham meet Milton Keynes Dons on Thursday night.
Gillingham currently sit in mid-table and are 9 points clear of the relegation zone and 8 points adrift of the playoff places. Relegation should be out of the question this season but Gillingham will believe a good late run may see them enter the playoff picture.
Milton Keynes Dons travel to the MEMS Priestfield Stadium with only one thing on their mind and that’s relegation. They are 22nd in League One, with 39 points from thirty-eight games played and only a win would be good enough to see them move out of the bottom four and into safety.
Steve Lovell will want his players to bounce back from that defeat with a win in this game and trends show Gillingham have lost just one of their last thirteen home matches in all competitions. However, only five of those thirteen games have ended in wins and Gillingham have won four of their last fourteen home League One games.
Despite the lack of wins, trends show Gillingham are undefeated in their last nine home League One games.
Milton Keynes Dons made it three games without defeat in League One on the weekend as they held by Blackpool to a 0-0 draw at home. This result followed two wins over Rotherham United and Bury, both of which were at home and Milton Keynes Dons have enjoyed the rarity of four home league games in a row.
Thanks to having a spell of matches at home, Milton Keynes Dons have managed to improve their form and prior to the win over Rotherham, they had failed to win in ten League One games.
In fact, trends show Milton Keynes Dons have won only three of their last twenty league games and just one of their last thirteen on the road. They have lost five of their last seven away matches and it will be interesting to see how they react to their first away game in over a month.
Looking ahead to the team news and Gillingham will hope midfielder Josh Parker returns from international duty with no injuries and in time to make the squad following games with Antigua and Barbuda. Much of the starting XI should remain the same from the trip to Bradford.
Milton Keynes Dons will travel without midfielder Alex Gilbey who will miss the rest of the season with a knee injury. Robbie Muirhead may come into the starting XI following his return from the bench on the weekend having been with the Scotland Under-21s.
Milton Keynes Dons have shown signs of improvement in recent weeks but that has come at home and their away form remains poor. Gillingham have been tough to beat on home soil and will be hoping to make that count by taking all 3 points on Thursday night.