Bristol Rovers vs Crawley Town Prediction: Gas can burn Red Devils

Crawley Town have struggled since the departure of Scott Lindsey earlier in the season and now find themselves mired in a relegation battle in League 1. Their next test is a trip to the Memorial Stadium to take on a Bristol Rovers side (15:00, Saturday) who are attempting to get away from danger under Matt Taylor. 

Below you will find my Bristol Rovers vs Crawley Town prediction featuring team news and betting tips. 

Team News

Bristol Rovers will be without Ruel Sotiriou after he was called up for Cyprus and Taylor hopes some time away will give him a confidence boost. "Ruel will be unavailable next week, which doesn't help our forward department, but great," Taylor declared after last weekend's draw with Lincoln.

"International recognition is fantastic for him and it might do him a world of good. Getting away from our environment, away from Bristol Rovers, not in a bad way at all, but sometimes you just go away and it's a bit of a release for him.

"I know he's felt the pressure and expectation and confidence aspect in terms of his game. So, yeah, I'm hoping when he comes back to us for Mansfield, he's in a good place mentally."

He is Rovers’ only international call-up so theoretically Taylor could name the same team as he did last weekend, with Chris Martin likely to lead the line again. Grant Ward is pushing for a starting spot while Shaq Forde will start on the wing having found the net last time out. 

For the visitors, they don’t have any international call-ups so Rob Elliot has a settled pack for this fixture. They rotated heavily for the EFL Trophy defeat in midweek so expect the likes of Rushian Hepburn-Murphy, Ronan Darcy and Panutche Camara to come back into the team. They all featured in the creditable 2-2 draw with Huddersfield, with Hepburn-Murphy finding the net. 

Bristol Rovers vs Crawley Town Odds

Bristol Rovers are priced at 9/10 to win this game, giving them an implied win probability of 52%. Crawley are the outsiders at 13/5 while a draw can be backed at 23/10. Over 2.5 goals is 4/5 and BTTS is 4/6, while Martin is the favourite to open the scoring at 9/2. 

Bristol Rovers to win @ 9/10

Quite a simple selection to kick us off in my opinion. This Crawley Town squad is still punching above its weight and I think they will begin to come undone as the season unfolds. The home draw against Huddersfield was impressive but their away form is poor. They’ve only won once out of seven attempts on the road, and they’ve failed to score in their last two away trips too. 

Meanwhile, I’m not massively positive about Bristol Rovers this season, but I do think they have enough to win this game. Their home form by contrast has been incredibly strong, as the Gas have picked up four wins from seven at the Mem, a record that should be boosted with another three points in this one. 

Bristol Rovers 2-0 Crawley Town @ 17/2

I had this scoreline in mind having read up on the underlying statistics, and I’m pleased to see it priced at a generous 17/2. In my opinion, the Red Devils will struggle going forward again and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if they make it three away games on the bounce without finding the net. 

Meanwhile Rovers have scored in their last six home matches and don’t seem to be struggling for goals, having hit the net six times in their last three outings in all competitions. That works out at an average of two per game, so a 2-0 win makes sense in my eyes. 

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