Cambridge United welcome Wrexham to the Abbey aiming to maintain the current six-game unbeaten run with a good performance in front of a home crowd.

United are currently in eighth place, having taken 16 points from the first ten games, while Wrexham are 16th with ten points but have two games in hand over most of the rest of the division.

The bookies rate the U's as favourites at 10/11 with our online betting partners bet365 to win our third home game of the season, while Wrexham are 13/5 and the draw is 12/5. Click here for all the match odds.

Team News

Once again, barring late injuries or illness, Martin Ling has a fully fit squad to select from and he is tempted to leave the team unchanged for a seventh successive match.

"I'm in no great rush to change things and it would probably be unfair to change things as they stand," said the U's boss. "A good run in any league starts to breed confidence throughout the side and throughout the club and that's what we'll be aiming to do.

"It's easy smiling at the moment because I've got an empty treatment room and every player out on the training ground, and to have had the same side for six games doesn't happen very often. We know we've been lucky with injuries, so we know there's some bad luck around the corner and we've got to be prepared. If you think that's not going to happen as a manager, you're a fool."

Ling assesses the season so far as "not brilliant but above average" and he is looking to push on: "After the way things went in pre-season, which has been well-documented, you couldn't asked for much better. It's been a steady start, but in terms of getting things in place quickly after pre-season we'd have taken this position and it's a position to kick on from.

"The players know what I'm about now and they're starting to get the message - they know what I'm about, and they know what we're looking for in training and in games. If I were to say we're the finished article and I've got everything in place and we can relax then I would be wrong, but I'm happy that things are moving in the right direction."

With only one goal conceded in those six games he is content with the platform provided by the back five, and the players have been working on their attacking play in training.

"We continue to work on the training ground on our movement in and around the box and our front players, and giving the players the confidence to go out there and be successful in those areas. Chrissy Holroyd is the perfect example of a player that's playing with confidence at the moment," confirmed the manager.

"In the first half at Wimbledon it looked like we were just starting to click into gear. The next three games will be proof of where we are because they're against three teams who I think will be there or thereabouts at the end of the season. It will be a big barometer to judge us off the back of what happens in these games."

The Other Side

Managed by former Liverpool and Wales star Dean Saunders, the Red Dragons have had a mixed start to the season with four defeats already, the most recent being last Saturday's 1-0 defeat at home to leaders Oxford United.

They lined up in a 3-5-2 formation in that game and Ling has prepared his men for that eventuality, but expects them to present a challenge whatever their line-up and system.

"They were seen as a pre-season favourite to do well and they've not started as well as they would have liked, but they're an ex-Football League club with a squad of about 30 to pick from and it will be a proper test for us," he said.

"They've played a few different systems and they played 3-5-2 when we watched them on Saturday, and it will be a difficult game for us but a game that we're capable of winning.

"We've worked on things within our own system that would hurt a 3-5-2," he revealed. "That doesn't mean they will turn up here in a 3-5-2 tomorrow, but it would be unprofessional of their management and me if we didn't at least talk about how other teams may play.

"It doesn't mean that I will change our system, but it means the players know what I expect them to do in that situation."

Ling expects a cagey encounter tomorrow, which could test the effectiveness of United's work on passing and movement: "I would expect a Dean Saunders side to try to pass and I think they'll also be one of the teams that will come here and sit back and try to get us to break them down.

"I think they'll feel confident enough that they can come and do that, and I want our team to come out and open them up," he added.

"Every game will call for a different gameplan and a scenario within the game that might need changing, so things can change in games, but the training ground is a good place to be.

"The atmosphere is good and the tempo of training is where I want it to be and where it has to remain. I am enjoying it, and when you miss the place when you're off for a week you know it's the place that you want to be."

More information

You can read more about Wrexham in Matt Gooding's 'The Other Side' preview, and if you fancy a bet on our match or any other event this week follow this link to visit our official betting partners bet365 - the place where your online betting makes money for the U's.

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