Macclesfield vs Yeovil Town Predictions

After they beat Carlisle not that long ago, Macclesfield will have hoped to move forward, though they’ve since continued to struggle. Saturday’s hosts have won just one league game all season and it’s already looking like the only way is down for the Silkmen, who’re currently without a permanent manager.

We’re now 18 matches into the League Two campaign so the fact that Macclesfield have registered just a single win is very concerning. They’re already cut adrift by seven points at the bottom, so it appears that the writing is on the wall. A lack of forward potency coupled with a defensive weakness is why the Silkmen are struggling to collect results, but they’ve also struggled from an overall quality point of view. There’s nobody in charge at present, though whoever comes in seemingly has an impossible task.

However, when playing at home, Macclesfield have delivered some promising performances, while six of their seven points have been collected at Moss Rose. They’re averaging a respectable 1.45 expected goals for, while they’re giving 1.48 at the other end. Such stats aren’t overly poor, but they’ve found it tough to get the ball in the net when creating chances, while they’ve allowed their opponents to score far too often, even when not giving away an abundance of clear-cut openings.

If the hosts can replicate one of their better home performances, such as when beating Carlisle by two goals to one and emerging with an expected goal difference of +1.31, then they could get a result on Saturday, though they’ll need to be at that sort of level, as Yeovil have done reasonably well this season.

Yeovil have won four of their eight away matches this season, while they’ve offered more all-round than Macclesfield have. However, they’ve not been the sharpest defensively, especially on the road, so perhaps there is hope for the hosts after all. Offensively, Darren Way’s men have made plenty of headway, as the fact that they’ve scored 15 away goals suggests, while they’re averaging a pleasing 1.79 expected goals for, though such an eye-catching average is skewed by one or two performances.

Recently, Yeovil haven’t been too clever when playing away from home. The Glovers have won just one of their last four on the road, while their performances against both Carlisle and Colchester suggest that they’re there for the taking. Against Carlisle, who Macclesfield recently dominated at this venue, Way’s men failed to really stamp their mark, despite scraping a 1-0 win, as they clocked just 0.76 expected goals for and gave up 1.29 at the other end. A repeat of that performance could land them in trouble here.

Macclesfield are not a good side, it would be wrong to say otherwise, though their performances at home have often been better than results have suggested, while Yeovil perhaps aren’t as good as some of their results would have us believe. A repeat of their efforts against Carlisle, Forest Green, Mansfield or Cheltenham, all of whom they played well against at home, at the prices, a chance is taken on the hosts to gain just a second win of the season.