Blackpool have not lost at home since October but struggling AFC Wimbledon will hope to change that on Saturday

Neil Critchley’s side had a hard test against Crewe in midweek as they played out a high intensity affair, but they will see Wimbledon as a more straight-forward task.

The Seasiders’ last defeat at Bloomfield Road came against Charlton on 20th October, but since then they have made their home a fortress, including an FA Cup victory against top flight West Brom in the process.

They are one of the form sides in the league losing just three of their last 15 games in the division and will see Mark Robinson’s side as another that they can defeat on home turf.

Since Robinson’s permanent appointment in mid-February, Wimbledon have picked up four points out of a possible 12, however the level of opponent has to be factored into that.

The Dons were soundly beaten by Peterborough and Hull but they picked up an impressive home victory against Steve Evans’ Gillingham and a very respectable point at Shrewsbury, who have been on a revival in recent months.

Back in October when the sides last met, Blackpool ended the game with nine men in a 1-0 defeat at the home of QPR, where Wimbledon were playing temporarily until their return to Plough Lane.

This game was the Wombles’ first victory of the season but it provided a catalyst for Critchley’s side who have not looked back after their horrendous start to the campaign, albeit with many of those defeats being unfortunate when you look at the chance creation numbers.

The visitors to Bloomfield Road on Saturday have never kicked on this season and they are rightfully sitting in the relegation places, in fact, when you look at the expected goals table for the division, they are actually outperforming their chance creation stats yet still sit 21st.

Blackpool were given a major boost in midweek when CJ Hamilton came off the bench to make his return to action following a long-term injury absence, and with James Husband back in full training alongside Daniel Gretarsson and Gary Madine, who are back out for fitness work, they will hope the numbers will be bolstered in time for this one.

Despite a shaky performance against Crewe, Jordan Thorniley will no doubt be relishing a chance to prove himself and coming up against a physical, direct outfit in Wimbledon, he will welcome the opportunity to play to his strengths.

As for the visitors, they are hopeful that Ollie Palmer and Zach Robinson can both play a part on Saturday as they are in contention for a return, however Ethan Chislett is likely to miss out through injury.

Wimbledon have been without any real attacking outlets in recent weeks with Shayon Harrison also on the sidelines, but both Palmer and Robinson stepped up their recovery in a midweek development friendly to give Robinson options ahead of their trip to Lancashire.

Interestingly, manager Robinson made note of the difficulty for his development-squad players to get the game time required to make a first team push given the suspension of non-league football limiting loan options, so the club have scheduled weekly friendlies to keep those players in contention.

For the visitors, they have had a heavy reliance on forward Joe Pigott to provide the goals to keep them in the division, scoring 13 so far this season but, given the lack of other options around him, he was quite isolated under the previous management.

Since Robinson’s arrival, they have switched to a 4-2-3-1 to try and get the likes of Ryan Longman and Shane McLaughlin in and around him to offer themselves during their build up play.

Having seen an improvement in recent weeks from the Dons, they are still a long way off being competitive against the top sides in the league, with Hull and Peterborough racking up chance creation stats that meant their already convincing scorelines could have been much worse.

Blackpool are not averse to creating lots of chances and Saturday will be no different so it will be important that the likes of ex-Seasider, Ben Heneghan and Will Nightingale keep composed and stubborn at the back.

Wimbledon have struggled against sides that offer energy and pace, with their fairly old school centre half pairing preferring the more basic elements of the defensive game, so their trip to Bloomfield Road looks likely to be a familiar tale.

But if they hang on long enough, they are more than capable of providing a moment of quality through Joe Pigott to pick up the three points.

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