Forest Green Rovers v Crawley Town preview: Two good footballing sides going head to head in a game that could go either way

Wins in the league over Sutton and Walsall, alongside a Carabao Cup victory on penalties over Bristol City provided Rovers with the perfect start to their campaign. It’s also been a dream start for new manager Rob Edwards, who seems to have had an instant impact on Forest Green.

Edwards arrived at Forest Green after managing England U16s for a year and has had a great start to life managing in the EFL. He’ll be looking to secure promotion for Forest Green this season, as they have been flirting with promotion the last couple of seasons but not managed to secure it.

They’ve missed out in the play-offs the last two years but will be looking to avoid the play-offs all together this year and gain automatic promotion. Ebou Adams and Jamille Matt will be key for Forest Green going forward with them already having three goals between them in the opening three games.

Matt playing as a more prominent striker with Adams just in behind is already proving to be a dangerous threat going forward. On top of these two they have Matty Stevens as a second striker who has scored three goals in his opening two league games, after spending last season on loan at Stevenage. They’ll be a strong threat going forward and Crawley’s defence will need to be on top of their game to keep out the threat of the front three.

Crawley might decide to operate with three centre backs to match up with Forest Greens usual 3-5-2 formation, with the wing backs causing a constant threat. This is something we saw Crawley do at The New Lawn last season with it clearly working as the Reds ran out 2-1 winners thanks to a brace from Tom Nichols.

However, in the reverse fixture Crawley used a four at the back system, which did a good job still at keeping out the Forest Green attack, as the tie ended 0-0. Crawley are a very flexible side who can use multiple systems so may choose to counter Forest Green.

A good game is to be expected in Gloucestershire, with two good footballing sides going head to head in a game that could go either way.