With two defeats and draw in the last three games the 2-0 win over Solihull in front of a record breaking crowd suddenly feels like a distant memory.
Notts have a chance to get back to winning ways against a Dagenham team that despite their impressive start to the season now see their form looking a little indifferent.
There's no denying this is a great chance for Notts to get back to winning ways and remarkably a chance to record an 8th consecutive win in front of the TV cameras at Meadow Lane!
Current Form:
Last six outings for both clubs below. Just the one win in the last six for Dagenham but that was a 4-1 thrashing of Maidenhead on the road.
Notts looking to put three games without a win behind them.
Key match actions compared for the season so far.
As was the case with Solihull there's nothing much to separate the teams on season performance so far.
Dagenham are ahead on goals scored but Notts have a slightly better defensive record.
Both clubs play a similar style and Dagenham like Notts don't rely solely on a talisman up front with goals coming from all over the park.
Players:
Notts fans will be familiar with ex-Pie Myles Weston. The 33 year old winger has appeared in every league game for the Daggers this season and has contributed two goals and five assists. In fact he has really found some form of late and it's not unusual to see him named in the National League team of the week.
Paul McCallum unsurprisingly is the Daggers leading scorer with 6 goals this seas with one of those from the penalty spot.
Attacking midfielder Angelo Balanta has played a supporting role to McCallum in recent games fitting in as a centre forward when needed and responding with four goals and assist.
One other player to keep an eye on is flying wingback Mauro Vilhete. Despite plying his trade mostly in The National League and League Two, the 28 year old Portuguese still offers a credible threat down the left flank and has managed to chip in with three goals this season.
Dagenham have selection problems ahead of todays game with as many as six first team player's out with injury including the likes of strikers Josh Walker and Scott Wilson (remember him?), defenders Will Wright, Elliott Johnson and Joey Jones and midfielder Harry Phipps.
Tactics:
Expect Daggers boss Daryl McMahon to stick with a 3 at the back and most likely match up to Notts with a 3-5-2/5-3-2 formation. In fact Dagenham have played 81% of their games this season with these formations.
They will look to make good use of their wingbacks and despite being happy to keep the ball along the back line are quite direct in playing down the flanks which could stretch Notts midfield leaving Dagenham the opportunity to capitalise on space in the middle of the park.
Notts may look to introduce loan signing Connor Parsons at some point to help strengthen the right wing back position although Dion kelly-Evans will no doubt relish the opportunity to leave his mark on Vilhete.
If Notts can play with a high tempo making good use of the energy in the middle of the park provided by Palmer and Vincent this will prevent Dagenham from trying to spread the game and force them to play longer balls down the channels.
Odds:
Bookies have Notts as favourites with 23/20 currently about the best you'll get for a home win.
You're looking at 47/25 for a Dagenham win and 131/50 for the draw.
Based on these odds you can expect Notts to have a 47% chance of winning but historically they would win 34% of these games.
When Dagenham have odds of 47/25 you would expect them to have a 35% chance of winning, however historically they win 33% of games when at these odds.
Essentially with Dagenham's injury list growing and Notts looking to have strengthened with the Parsons signing there's no reason to think Notts can't put in a good performance for the TV camera's. Dagenham are struggling for any kind of consistency at the moment and despite not winning in the last 3 games Notts remain in good form and will be looking forward to being back at Meadow Lane.
With Bromley away at Wrexham, Grimsby at Boreham Wood and Halifax away at Torquay there is the slightest of chances that a win for Notts could see a jump up to 4th but level with Grimsby in 3rd on GD. Also, with Chesterfield's game at Maidenhead postponed there is an opportunity to close the gap on top spot to just 4 points.
Defeat could see a drop to 10th, the position currently held by Dagenham who would leapfrog Notts on GD.
Don't forget it's a 5.20pm kick-off!
As always thanks for reading and if you have any questions about the stats please feel free to give me a shout either in the comments section below, via the contact page on the website or through the usual social media channels.
COYP!
Richard
Notes:
Betting odds are only used as another means to assess current form and sporting industry expectations of possible result. Notts County Stats do not endorse any form of gambling or betting industry associated businesses.