By Neil Ravenscroft
September 17 2004

Walsall and Manager Paul Merson will be looking for an improvement in their defensive performances away from home this week. A clean sheet would be nice! It's away on the road again for Paul Merson's boys this weekend, with a trip to north Derbyshire and the attractions of Chesterfield.

There has been a lot of talk from the camp this week about the need to start improving the away form. If promotion is the goal this season, then far too much pressure is being placed on the home form by achieving only two points from the four away games. The major problem has been the leaking of goals, with the only clean sheet coming about, ironically, in the only game we couldn't manage a goal in!

Certainly, there has been a lot of work on defending in training this week, but Merson is left with not much choice to make at the back. Ian Roper should have been available again, but his minor car accident and none availability for the reserves in the week means that he is short of match practice. Kofi Dakinah did pull a hamstring in the Sheffield Wednesday game, so the back four is almost certain to be Bewers, Emblen, Bennett and Aranalde. As for the rest of the team, Paul Merson has said this week that he still doesn't know his best line up, so there are likely to be changes again. Mark Wright's performance for the reserves will mean he'll be pushing for a place in the sixteen, however.

If we have defensive problems, however, they are nothing compared with high flying Chesterfield. Manager Roy McFarland has criticised his team this week for their poor disciplinary record, which means that first choices Steve Blatherwick and Shane Nicholson are both suspended.
McFarland is pinning his hopes on Ian Evatt being fit after the defender missed the weekend defeat by Luton with an ankle injury.

Chesterfield's defensive woes must surely mean we are in with a chance of all three points here, so I’m going for 2 – 1 to the Saddlers and a welcome, if late, kick start for our away form.