Milton Keynes Dons

MK Dons are back at Stadium MK today for the second time this week, as they host Accrington Stanley in their latest Sky Bet League One outing.

Russell Martin's men go into this afternoon's game without a win in their last five matches and looking to pick up maximum points for the first time since February's win over Northampton Town.

Tuesday aside, Stadium MK has been a happy hunting ground for Martin's Dons, who have tasted home defeats in just two of their last 10 at MK1. They are also one of the division's highest scorers when it comes to scoring on their own patch, with 24 goals scored in total from their 16 Stadium MK fixtures.

Kick-off is at 3pm.

THE OPPOSITION
Accrington Stanley are enjoying a successful season and currently sit 10th in the Sky Bet League One table having spent a large portion of the season in the top six. John Coleman's side sit just two points off a play-off finish as they look to gain promotion to the second tier of English Football for the first time in their career.

John Coleman has earned plaudits for his teams form this season with Stanley winning 14 games under his stewardship this season. Coleman, who has been in charge at The Wham Stadium since 2014, has earned promotion four times with the Lancashire based outfit.

Dion Charles leads the goalscoring charts for Accrington Stanley having found the back of the net 15 times - he boats a 0.5 goals per 90-minutes. Closely behind Charles is Colby Bishop who has nine goals to his name, while the diminutive Joe Pritchard has six goals. It's Pritchard that leads the creative stats for Coleman's side, he's registered six assists and created 33 chances for his side.

LAST TIME OUT
A first-half goal from Jerry Yates proved the difference as MK Dons were beaten 1-0 by in-form Blackpool at Stadium MK.

Despite a dominant start, Russell Martin’s men fell behind to Yates’ 33rd-minute finish and could never recover, with Cameron Jerome’s strike against the crossbar the closest they came to earning a share of the spoils.

Accrington Stanley, meanwhile, fell to their heaviest defeat of the season as Bristol Rovers ran out 4-1 winners on Tuesday evening.

Strikers from Luke Leahy and Alex Rodman gave Joey Barton's the lead at the break, before Sam Nicholson and Zain Westbrooke put the game to bed in the second half.

Paul Smyth did find the back of the net on 77-minutes, but it proved to be nothing more than a consolation goal.

FIGHTING TALK
Russell Martin: "Accrington have been performing really well. Their manager is really experienced and they are really good at what they do. We know what we need to do. This group has had some adversity this season but they’ve always come through with real belief."

John Coleman: “I love watching MK Dons play, they are a good, exciting team, who play good football. We like to think we play good football so it should lend itself to an entertaining game.

“Russ (Martin) has done really well there, he has stamped his brand of football on them. The best way to do that is to have success and sometimes you have to go through a bit of pain to get success at the end of it. He has stuck to his guns, he still plays the same way, win lose or draw, and it’s good to see people being brave.

TEAM NEWS
Charlie Brown has emerged as a new injury concern for MK Dons, after picking up a knock in the midweek defeat to Blackpool.

Meanwhile, Ben Gladwin was set to return to light training on Friday as he looks to come back from an ankle injury suffered in training last week. David Kasumu is also expected back in light training next week.

Kieran Agard and Jay Bird remain the other two absentees for boss Russell Martin, who confirmed in his pre-match press conference that there were no fresh injury concerns other than Charlie Brown.

Accrington Stanley boss John Coleman has said he is down to 'the bare bones' ahead of today's clash at Stadium MK.

Colby Bishop and Seamus Conneely both missed Tuesday’s 4-1 loss at Bristol Rovers, with the likes of Tariq Uwakwe, Ross Sykes, Joe Pritchard, Nathan Baxter and Ryan Cassidy already out injured.

Dion Charles came off in the loss to Bristol Rovers, while Paul Smyth will face a late fitness test.

OFFICIALS
Dean Whitestone will be the man in the middle this afternoon.

Mr Whitestone has overseen 25 matches so far this term, producing a total of 47 yellow cards. He has sent off two players and has awarded four penalties.

His assistant referees are Mark Jones and Nik Barnard, while the fourth official is Rob Smith.