Crewe Alex v Fleetwood Town 25-26 Preview - Turning Point

If there was a moment when the Alex's season died in 24-25, it was against Fleetwood on a cold Tuesday night last March. They were already losing and being badly outplayed, but it was Shilow Tracey's horrific leg injury which in truth killed their season. They won just 1 of their remaining 11 games after that night and whilst this seasons team have been able to recover somewhat, Tracey remains sidelined as he works his way from that sickening incident. In this game though they have the opportunity to, to a certain extent, banish some of the demons from that game. Here is my preview of the visit of Fleetwood to Gresty Road:

Sliding

Go back to Christmas Day and Fleetwood were in a good position. They beat Gillingham to move to 9th in the table and a few days later they celebrated Pete Wild's first year in charge. Since then though, things have turned for the worse. Their form has cratered, with them losing 6 of their last 9 games in the league and being dumped out of all cup competitions.

That run of form cost Wild his job, but it's not fair to lay the blame solely at his door. Player exits and injuries haven't helped. They've sold top scorer Ryan Graydon to Salford and keeper David Harrington to Bolton, plus bizarrely loaned CB Zac Medley to Bromley. All this points to them pulling the plug on their season. Hopefully they come to Gresty Road with broken spirits.

Dangerous

That being said, they are still a tricky side with enough talent to turn the Alex over. Will Davies is lively up front and the trio of Mark Helm, Matty Virtue-Thick and Elliott Bonds are good L2 midfielders on their day. I thought the Alex would make short work of them in this fixture last season and they got battered 4-1, even after 2 wins over Barrow and Chesterfield. This season's group feels different, so I hope they've done their homework on Fleetwood and don't get caught out again.

Evening Goodbyes

Touch wood, this should be the Alex's last home evening game of the league season. It's bizarre to think they'll have only had 3, compared to the 5 they had last season. Obviously this could change should they see a game moved for Sky coverage. The Salford and MK Dons games are definitely candidates for that. But assuming they get lucky, they'll only have had 3. Which is a good thing.

Hold the spot

The Alex moved up to 7th with their win on Saturday, but now suddenly they are the chased and not the chaser. How will they respond to this new pressure, with all the sides below them in action and looking to take advantage of a slip up? They've done well to build up some good form in the past few weeks and they are unbeaten at home in 4 months. I'm curious to see how they stand up to this new test of them.

Improvements

The Alex can also pass some fairly significant milestones tomorrow. If they score twice, they will surpass their goal total from last season with 13 games to go. If they win without conceding, it'll be:

• Their 10th home win(they managed 9 in total last season)

• Their 4th straight home win(they haven't done that since 2023)

• Their 34th home point(they managed just 32 last season)

• Their first 3 game winning streak without conceding since September last season

And above all else, if they win, they'll maintain their top 7 spot for a few more days and, should Salford not win, go above them into 6th.

Ref Watch

Ross Martin

Martin is a relatively new ref, with this being his first full season in the EFL. Therefore, he hasn't yet taken charge of a Crewe game. A nice fresh slate. I hope we aren't criticising him too heavily at full time.

2025-26 Record: 13 games(1 League One, 8 League Two, 1 FA Cup, 1 EFL Trophy, 2 National League), 50 yellows, 3 reds

Last Game: Harrogate Town 0-1 Swindon Town, Tuesday 3rd February 2026, EFL League Two, 2 yellows

Crewe Alex Record: N/A

Injuries/Absences

Crewe Alex

Same as usual I hope. We're still several weeks away from getting Sanders, Tezgel and Lankester back, at least. But there should be, touch wood, no new injury concerns.

Fleetwood Town

Lewis McCann, Ched Evans, Ronan Coughlan, Jordan Davies, Denver Hume, James Norwood and James Bolton were all missing from the Oldham game on Saturday, so it appears they'll be short handed in a couple of areas.

Team

I'm calling for 2 changes to the starting XI from the Gillingham game. The first is bringing in Owen Lunt for Conor Thomas. Or Jack Powell, I'm fine with either one. Neither were brilliant on Saturday and neither can give you more than 45-60 minutes at the moment, so starting them both again in this one seems ill advised. Lunt might not be 100% but they miss his energy and tenacity, so he starts.

Then upfront, I'm asking for Thibaut to get a start and for Josh March to drop to the bench. March has looked laboured in the last few weeks and is without a goal involvement in his last 6, whilst Thibaut has 2 in his last 4. March needs a break and Thibaut will be high on confidence. Let him start and bring March on in the final 20-30 minutes to run at the tiring Fleetwood back line.

Score Prediction

Can the Alex keep their winning streak going? I hope so, as I can't imagine Fleetwood are any fresher than them and they must low in confidence currently having endured a horrible run of form lately. The Alex should be feeling more than up for this game and a goal in each half to pick up a win would be lovely.

Crewe Alexandra 2-0 Fleetwood Town