Notts face the Linnets at Meadow Lane on Tuesday night not even knowing if the result will stand come the end of the season as King's Lynn commit to competing in just two more games . . . for the time being.
Before we get into the pre match stats I'd like to take the opportunity to just mention Neal Ardley who was in charge for his 100th game on Saturday.
Ardley officially joined Notts as first team manager on 28th November 2018. His first game in charge was in the EFL Trophy away at Sunderland ending in a 2-0 defeat.
His first league game in charge was against local rivals Mansfield Town at Field Mill which again ended in a 2-0 defeat. He didn’t have to wait long for his first win though with goals from Jon Stead (2) and Kane Hemmings securing a 3-2 victory against Tranmere Rovers in his first game in front of the Meadow Lane faithful.
Ardley has his detractors amongst the fans, none more so than those who blame him for Notts' relegation from the football league, and you can understand why some would come to that conclusion and under normal circumstances you would have expected to see a change of manager before the start of the new season.
However, it was a change of ownership at the club that saw Ardley continue in the manager's role and it's a measure of the man that he openly admits his part in failing to avoid the drop during that fateful season. It seems clear he is committed to putting right that wrong and guiding the club back into the football league will go some way towards achieving that.
Here's a quick look at some of the key stats from his first 100 games at the helm for Notts County.
Back onto the King's Lynn game now and first a quick look at the recent form radar.
Other than the above chart having more than a striking resemblance of the Millennium Falcon it's somewhat worrying still for Notts that they currently languish 18th in the attack form table.
That said the force appears strong with the Magpies in other areas where they find themselves top of the defence, last 6 away and last 6 combined form tables
Goals by time segment for King's Lynn and essentially they are all over the shop.
Notts' goal segment.
The following visuals look at expected points (xPTS) for both clubs vs actual points gained (aPTS) which allows us to look at overall performance for the season so far.
The above chart is for all of King's Lynn's league games up to but not including their 2-2 draw on Saturday,
Their actually points are not quite up there with their expected points suggesting they haven't necessarily got the results their performances may have warranted.
By comparison Notts have perhaps been fortunate to acquire points in games that weren't necessarily expected.
xG (expected goals) vs aG (actual goals) for both clubs below for the season so far.
King's Lynn's actual goals and expected goals are pretty much like for like.
By contrast Notts were previously scoring more goals than expected, however in recent games both the goals scored and expected goals have levelled off at a lower than desired rate.
The Linnets are averaging 1.33 goals per game and average 10.28 goal attempts per 90 minutes meaning they score on average every 7.73 attempts per goal suggesting they make the most of their chances.
Notts are averaging 1.24 goals per game and average 12.00 goal attempts per 90 minutes meaning they average a goal every 9.67 attempts.
King's Lynn are conceding just 2.00 goals per game on average compared to Notts who are conceding just 0.71 goals per game.
Lead status for both clubs.
A win could see Notts move back up to 4th place on goal difference over Stockport and a chance to go back up to 3rd place in the PPG table.
As expected Notts are firm favourites but odds were still a bit up in the air at the time of writing due to the uncertainty around the game actually going ahead.
A great chance for Notts to make some ground on those above. Injury concerns have left Notts a little light at the back so fingers crossed the likes of Rawlinson, Lacey and Kelly-Evans who will no doubt play their part come through the 90 mins unscathed.
COYP!
Richard
Note:
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.