Preview

 

Sports Mole previews Tuesday's pre-season clash between Bristol City and Exeter City, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

Bristol City and Exeter City continue their pre-season preparations with a behind-closed-doors friendly on Tuesday.

Both teams have put together unbeaten runs during the summer so far, upping the stakes ahead of their meeting at the Bristol City training ground.

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Match preview

Having ended last season in their best form of the season, Nigel Pearson would have felt that it was important for his Bristol City side to continue that momentum ahead of the upcoming campaign.

As it stands, Pearson will be satisfied with the team's results with two wins and a draw coming from three matches, all of which have included clean sheets.

Each of their opponents - Cheltenham Town, Portsmouth and Plymouth Argyle - all ply their trade below the Championship, but building a solid base is important for a team who conceded goals at will during 2021-22.

In their latest game against Plymouth on Saturday, Bristol City posted a 1-0 victory courtesy of a late goal from Nahki Wells.

This game will be Bristol City's second of Tuesday afternoon, the first fixture seeing them take on Forest Green Rovers, before their pre-season schedule concludes with a meeting with Bournemouth at the weekend.

While Bristol City are on a three-match unbeaten streak, Exeter have avoided defeat in their last four games since losing to Tiverton Town at the start of the month.

Since then, wins have been recorded against Weston-super-Mare, Taunton Town and Truro City, with a draw coming against Yeovil Town on Saturday.

Just Bristol City and Torquay United remain on their schedule ahead of their return to League One, and Matt Taylor will be hoping that they can retain their unbeaten run until at least the end of the month.

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Team News

This game is scheduled to take place at 4.30pm, BST, with Bristol City's preceding fixture against Forest Green due to start at 2pm, BST.

With that in mind, it is impossible to predict how Pearson will line up for each game, but it will enable his players to get closer to full fitness ahead of the new campaign.

Zak Vyner, Han-Noah Massengo, Andy King and Chris Martin all played 90 minutes at the weekend so may be provided with limited action on Tuesday.

Taylor was critical of Exeter's start against Yeovil on Saturday, claiming that his side looked "very rusty" during the opening 25 minutes.

That could lead to Taylor naming much of the team which started that game, although Jake Caprice, Harry Kite and Matt Jay are contenders to drop out of the side after coming through 80 minutes.

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We say: Bristol City 2-1 Exeter City

Giving the uncertainty over Bristol City's squad for this game, it is a difficult fixture to predict. However, such is the quality in their ranks that we expect Pearson to field some players who could feature on the opening day, leading us to predict a narrow victory for the Championship team.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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