Crawley Town v Sutton United preview: Reds looking forward to Boxing Day derby

Last week’s postponement at Tranmere may have helped Crawley with injuries and illness sweeping the team.

The Reds will be looking to get back to winning ways following their extremely poor 2-0 loss at home to Hartlepool last time out.

They host another team who struggle on the road as Sutton have just one away win all season.

That win came in another local game against AFC Wimbledon, with a big travelling crowd perhaps giving them a boost.

The sides are separated by five points and three places in League Two, although Crawley do have a game in hand.

It hasn’t been an ideal season for either team so far with both sides sitting in the bottom half of the table.

Matt Gray’s side have struggled to build on just missing out on the play-offs last season and their position this year perhaps highlights the overachievement of them last season.

There is plenty of familiar faces to Crawley in the Sutton side, including manager Matt Gray, who was assistant manager at The Reds under Dermot Drummy.

Forner Reds players in the Sutton squad include Rob Milsom, Louis John, Enzio Boldewijn and Luke Gambin.

Sutton were the side who came out on top last season, as they did the double over Crawley with 1-0 and 3-0 wins.

It’s only Matthew Etherington’s third game in charge for The Reds and he’ll be hoping he has more players available to him than he has had so far.

With over a week between the Hartlepool and Sutton game there’s been plenty of time for the players to recover and prepare for this fixture, which may have been some key time on the training pitch.

Crawley will be looking for a win to move within touching distance of their opponents in the table, whereas Sutton will be looking to move into a more comfortable position in midtable.