Blues need a positive result against the Saddlers

Wycombe Wanderers entertain Walsall on Saturday in their 12th league game of the season.

The league table currently shows Wycombe in 22nd place with 8 points and Walsall in 19th spot with 10 points, both sides having played 11 games.

Walsall's Away Record........W 1 - D 1 - L 3 - Pts 4 - Ppg 0.80 (Rank-18)

Wycombe's Home Record....W 1 - D 1 - L 3 - Pts 4 - Ppg 0.80 (Rank-21)


Reasons to be cheerful have been a bit thin on the ground lately, so let's try and be positive........

"There's no reason why we can't go up the league, a couple of wins gets you right up there, it's still early and a couple of wins can change it so quickly," said Wycombe's new loan-signing Grant Basey.

And he's right. Despite a dismal run of seven defeats in their last eight league games, the Blues are still within three points of the six teams directly above them.

One such team is Walsall, who believe it or not, are actually in worse form than Wycombe.

Yes, our whopping three points in the last five games trumps the Saddlers' meagre haul of two points in the same period.

Admittedly, if you go back a bit further, like eight games, we have the joint-worst record in the entire Football League, but let's not go there.

Tuesday saw the Blues exit the Johnstone's Paint Trophy at the hands of Cheltenham, but staying with the positive theme, we're not likely to field Harding, Benyon or Rendell again on Saturday.

Oh, and Walsall were turfed out of the JPT as well. Admittedly they lost on penalties away from home to League One opposition, rather than being thumped on their own turf by lower division minnows, but let's not go there.

As previously mentioned, we have a new left back in Grant Basey (another positive), and according to the Bucks Free Press, young Jordan Ibe might even make his league debut which is a really big positive in my book (The kid is brilliant, has no fear and stole the show against Cheltenham).

I'm on a roll now...here's another positive - we've actually scored four more goals than Walsall in all competitions. Admittedly, we've conceded eleven more than them, but hey.. that's history, the season starts tomorrow....

Onwards and Upwards.


Here are some stats......


Walsall's last five games (All Competitions)

Lg1: Oldham (H).................Lost 0-1

Lg1: Scunthorpe (H)..........Drew 2-2

Lg1: Colchester (A).............Lost 0-1

Lg1: Carlisle (H)................Drew 1-1

JPT: Rochdale (A)................Lost 1-1 (1-3 on pens)



Wycombe's last five games (All Competitions)

Lg1: Tranmere (A)...............Lost 0-2

Lg1: Sheffield Utd (H)..........Won 1-0

Lg1: Preston (H)..................Lost 3-4

Lg1: Rochdale (A)................Lost 1-2

JPT: Cheltenham (H)............Lost 1-3



Walsall Goal Stats (14 games in all Competitions)

Goals Scored (Total).........Lg: 11...Cups: 3...Total: 14

Goals Conceded (Total).....Lg: 13...Cups: 5...Total: 18

Goals Scored (Away)........Lg: 6.....Cups: 1...Total: 7

Goals Conceded (Away)....Lg: 7.....Cups: 1...Total: 8

Clean Sheets....................Lg: 2.....Cups: 0...Total: 2



Wycombe Goal Stats (15 games in all Competitions)

Goals Scored (Total)..........Lg: 10...Cups: 8.....Total: 18

Goals Conceded (Total)......Lg: 18...Cups: 11...Total: 29

Goals Scored (Home).........Lg: 5.....Cups: 8.....Total: 13

Goals Conceded (Home).....Lg: 8.....Cups: 11...Total: 19

Clean Sheets.....................Lg: 1.....Cups: 0.....Total: 1



Walsall's Top Goal Scorers - (All Competitions)

Ryan Jarvis...................3

Will Grigg......................3

Adam Chambers............2

Jonathan Macken............2

Kevan Hurst...................2

Two other players have each scored 1 goal.



Wycombe's Top Goal Scorers - (All Competitions)

Stuart Beavon...........6

Scott Donnelly...........4 (inc 2 pens)

Joel Grant.................2

Six other players have each scored 1 goal.



Walsall Shooting (Top-3) - All Competitions

Richard Taundry......6 on-target...16 off-target...0 against woodwork

Kevan Hurst..........11 on-target.....9 off-target...0 against woodwork

Ryan Jarvis.............6 on-target...12 off-target...1 against woodwork



Wycombe Shooting (Top-3) - All Competitions

Scott Donnelly.........10 on-target...10 off-target...0 against woodwork

Joel Grant.................7 on-target.....9 off-target...0 against woodwork

Stuart Beavon.........13 on-target.....2 off-target...0 against woodwork



Shooting (Club) - League Games Only

Walsall............57 on target...70 off target...1 against w'work (Rank-6)

Wycombe........40 on target...52 off target...3 against w'work (Rank-22)



Most Assists

Walsall - Richard Taundry......3

Wycombe - Andy Sandell.......3



League Form Guide

All Season

Walsall........Pld: 11...W: 2...D: 4...L: 5...Pts: 10...Pts per game: 0.91

Wycombe....Pld: 11...W: 2...D: 2...L: 7...Pts: 8.....Pts per game: 0.73



Last Five league Games

Walsall...........LLDLD - 2 points (Rank-24)

Wycombe.......LLWLL - 3 points (Rank-23)



Last Five League Games (Away)

Walsall..........DLWLL - 4 points (Rank-17)



Last Five League Games (Home)

Wycombe......DLLWL - 4 points (Rank-19)



Against Top Half Opposition

Walsall.........Pld: 6...Pts: 2...Pts per game: 0.33...(Rank-19)

Wycombe.....Pld: 6...Pts: 4...Pts per game: 0.66...(Rank-17)



Against Bottom Half Opposition

Walsall..........Pld: 5...Pts: 8...Pts per game: 1.60...(Rank-16)

Wycombe......Pld: 5...Pts: 4...Pts per game: 0.80...(Rank-23)



Previous Meetings

In 17 previous meetings there have been 8 wins for Walsall, 6 for Wycombe and 3 draws.

At Adams Park there have been 4 wins for Wycombe, 3 for Walsall and 1 draw.

1993/94 LG2: Wycombe 3 Walsall 0

1995/96 LG1: Wycombe 1 Walsall 0

1996/97 LG1: Wycombe 0 Walsall 2

1997/98 LG1: Wycombe 4 Walsall 2

1998/99 LG1: Wycombe 1 Walsall 2

2000/01 LG1: Wycombe 3 Walsall 1

2006/07 LG2: Wycombe 0 Walsall 0

2009/10 LG1: Wycombe 2 Walsall 3



The Man In The Middle

Saturday's referee is Roger East from Wiltshire who was promoted to the National List of Referees in 2007. His last Wycombe game was a 4-0 defeat at Yeovil on Boxing Day 2009. So far this campaign he's issued 2 red and 33 yellow cards in 12 games.



Positive Prediction

Wycombe 2 Walsall 1

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