This afternoon sees a trip to Brunton Park to face Carlisle United, who sit in 18th place in the league.
So far this season, they have beaten Crawley Town, Scunthorpe United, Stevenage and Oldham Athletic, they have drawn with Salford City and Forest Green Rovers and have lost against Swindon Town, Mansfield Town, Cheltenham Town, Exeter City, Bradford City and Newport County. In cups, they were knocked out of the EFL Cup by Rochdale in Round 2 following a 3-0 win over Barnsley in Round 1 while they lost to Wolves Under-21 in their only EFL Trophy game played so far in a group that also contains Blackpool and Morecambe.
Over the summer, Carlisle have signed 15 players over the summer, 10 of which are permanent signings and 5 season-long loans while letting 14 leave the club permanently. Arriving at the club are defenders Christie Elliott, Jack Iredale, Jon Mellish, Byron Webster, Nathaniel Knight-Percival, Aaron Hayden, Gethin Jones and Canice Carroll (loan), midfielders Jack Bridge and Mohammed Ali Sagaf and forwards Nathan Thomas, Olufela Olomola, Ryan Loft, Elias Sorensen (all loans) and former Alex loanee Harry McKirdy.
Looking back in the archives, the two teams have met 92 times with Carlisle leading the head-to-head with 42 wins to 36 with 14 draws. Carlisle’s biggest win came last season at the Alexandra Stadium as they won 5-0 whilst the Alex’s biggest win came in January 1939 with a 7-1 victory at the Alexandra Stadium. Carlisle had won the last 4 meetings between the sides as they won 1-0 games last August in the league at Brunton Park as well as the FA Cup meeting in November before the Alex won the league meeting at the Alexandra Stadium by 2 goals to 1.
Who are the officials for the game?
The officials for this game see Darren England as the man in the middle where he is assisted by Philip Dermott and James Mainwaring with Nick Greenhalgh being the fourth official. During the last 5 seasons the following Crewe games have been refereed by England:
- Bury 0-0 Crewe Alexandra (26th January 2016)
- Crewe Alexandra 2-3 Scunthorpe United (16th April 2016) – Turton, Haber
- Crewe Alexandra 1-2 Stevenage (25th February 2017) – Jones
