Southend v MK Dons preview
Friday 20 April 2018 11:11, UK
Southend have suffered a double defensive injury blow which means Ben Coker and Michael Turner will almost certainly miss the rest of the season.
Coker and Turner picked up hamstring and thigh injuries, respectively, in the first half of last weekend's 2-0 loss at Oxford. Elvis Bwomono and Anton Ferdinand came on and will be into contention to start. Goalkeeper Ted Smith (shoulder) and defender Rob Kiernan (knee) are still out.
MK Dons are expected to be without goalkeeper Lee Nicholls due to a hand injury. Nicholls was injured in the 5-1 loss to Wigan and missed the loss to Doncaster, when Wieger Sietsma took his place. Alfie Jones, 17, came on to the bench.
Midfielder Marcus Tavernier came off the bench against Rovers following a recent injury and could come into contention to start, as could defender Josh Tymon, who was an unused substitute. Forward Osman Sow has returned to training and could also feature.
Opta stats
The Shrimpers have won just one of their five home meetings with MK Dons in all competitions (D1 L3).
The 1-1 draw between these two teams in November was the first stalemate in nine clashes in all competitions (two Southend wins, six MK Dons wins).
Southend have only lost one of their last seven home league games (W5 D1).
Indeed, they haven't conceded in each of their last three home league games - they last went on a longer run of keeping consecutive clean sheets at home in April 2015 (5 games).
After going four league games without a loss (W3 D1), MK Dons have now lost each of their last three, conceding nine goals in the process.
