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Ronnie Moore will be hoping his side can keep up their unbeaten run in the league, which stretches back five games, whilst Dario Gradi, the long serving Crewe manager will be hoping his side can bounce back from their 4-1 home defeat to League One pace-setters Nottingham Forest at Gresty Road on Saturday.
Crewe Alexandra team profile:
Formed: 1877
Ground:
Manager: Dario Gradi
Nickname: The Alex/The Railway men
Season Finish 2005/06: 22nd (Coca-Cola League Championship)
Previous Meetings:
The most recent meetings between the two sides have come in friendlies, as both sides have found themselves in different divisions.
One friendly which particually springs to mind was one at Prenton Park during the pre-season of 2003, when Ray Mathias was manager. Eugene Dadi made his bow at Prenton Park, partnering Simon Haworth upfront, but Rovers went on to lose the game 5-0 against a Crewe side who had won promotion to the Coca-Cola Championship just a couple of months earlier.
The most recent meetings in the league came in the 2002/03 season, when Rovers managed an increadible 80 points, a club record, yet still missed out on the Division 2 (now League 1) play-off's, let alone the automatic promotion spots.
During this season, Tranmere won one and lost one against The Alex, who eventually finish 2nd in the season with just 6 points more than Tranmere.
At Crewe in late September, Tranmere suffered a 2-0 defeat to Dario Gradi's side, with both goals coming in the second half, thanks to an own goal from on-loan Curtis and a goal for now Sheffield United striker Rob Hulse. Current Wesh Ham striker Dean Ashton also played in this game, coming off the substitutes bench after 72-minutes.
Later on in the season, on March 9th, Tranmere got their own back against Crewe, with a valuable 2-1 win during their 18-match unbeaten run which ran from early February until August of the next season.
Jason Price gave Tranmere the lead after 43 minutes, but Rob Hulse again popped up to get a 47th minute equaliser. However, Rovers were set for a thrilling finish, with Ian Sharps scoring an 88th minute winner for Ray Mathias' team.
Vital Stats:
Crewe have only won 11 times in 36 visits to Prenton Park
The two sides first met on 27th August 1921, there have been a further 120 competative meetings since
There hasn't been a draw in this fixture since 6th April 1990 (12 games since)
Tranmere have scored 131 goals in 61 matches against Crewe at Prenton Park
Rovers have only lost one of 11 home matches on December 15th
The Form Book:
Tranmere last 6 home games: LWWWLD
Crewe last 6 away games: LWWLDL
Many League One fans expected Crewe to be one of the teams pushing to go up into the Championship at the end of this season, but so far a dodge defence has kept Crewe away from the promotion places for a large period of the season.
For the Railway men, three of their last five away games have been in either the Johnstone's Paint Trophy or the F.A. Cup, with Crewe winning one match, losing one and drawing the other - which they eventually won on penalties aginst League Two side Rochdale after the game finishing 1-1 in 90 minutes.
Their defeat was a heavy one, as they lost 4-0 in the First Round of this seasons F.A. Cup, whilst they booked their place in the Northern Section semi-final of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy with a 3-2 win at Port Vale.
In their other away cup game, Crewe won 3-0 against Grimsby in the First Round of the Carling Cup and eventually lost in the third round against Manchester United (2-1) at Gresty Road.
In the league, Crewe have picked up just seven points from ten away games, which is the main reason as to why they find themselves in 14th place in the League Once table.
They have infact lost seven games in total, including a 5-1 thrashing away to Rotherham United and a 3-1 defeat at Belle Vue against Doncaster Rovers.
Other away defeats for Crewe have come at Oldham Athletic (1-0), Bristol City (2-1), Yeovil Town (2-0), Swansea City (2-0) and Bournemouth (1-0), along with a 2-2 draw at Glanford Park against high-flying Scunthorpe United.
The victories have been against Brentford and Brighton, where the two southern based clubs were both hit for four, losing 4-0 and 4-1.
In a total of 10 away league games, Crewe have in fact conceeded 18 goals and scored 14, so clearly it is the defence which is the problem.
Under Ronnie Moore, Tranmere have still only lost one home game out of ten, winning an impressive seven and drawing twice.
Port Vale are the only side to defeat Rovers at Prenton Park in the league this season, with The Valient's winning 2-1, also a Friday night match, despite Rovers rallying to come back to 2-1 from 2-0 behind.
Huddersfield and Nottingham Forest have both left with a point each, as Huddersfield came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 and Forest got a 0-0 draw, but seven other teams have left Prenton Park empty handed.
Those teams to leae empty handed have been Oldham Athletic (1-0), Yeovil Town (2-1), Leyton Orient (3-0), Bristol City (1-0), Bournemouth (1-0), Blackpool (2-0) and Millwall (3-1), with Tranmere actually only conceeding six goals in ten home league games this season.
In the cup, Tranmere have not been so good, losing two out of three games at Prenton Park, one in the F.A. Cup and one in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy.
Darlington beat Tranmere 1-0 in the Second Round of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, whilst Peterborough United defeated Tranmere 2-1 in their most recent home game in the F.A. Cup 2nd Round after Rovers had defeated Conference side Woking 4-2 in the first round.
Double Hit:
A great number of players have represented both Crewe and Tranmere in the past, with one such player being current Tranmere striker Gareth Taylor.
The Welsh international joined Crewe on-loan from Nottingham Forest last season and was less than a success at Gresty Road, as he netted a grand total of four goals in 15 games for The Alex.
In the summer, Taylor joined Rovers from Forest on a free-transfer and has so far netted five goals in 20 games for Ronnie Moore's side.
An interesting stat is one that in every game Gareth Taylor has scored, Rovers have won by two goals, beating Chesterfield (2-0), Northampton (3-1), Millwall (3-1), Woking (4-2) and Blackpool (2-0).
Before signing for Rovers and Crewe, Taylor had represented seven other clubs in the football league, plus Southampton for whom he never played.
After making his debut for Bristol Rovers in 1991, Taylor went on to play for Crystal Palace, Manchester City, Port Vale, Sheffield United, Queens Park Rangers and Burnley.
He has been transfered for over £2,000,000, including a top fee of £1,250,000 from Bristol Rovers to Crystal Palace in 1995.
In his career, Taylor has played over 450 games at club level, scoring nearly 114 goals and has scored no goals after 12 caps for his country Wales.
One To Watch:
The Crewe player who you should definately watch out for is striker Luke Varney, who is Crewe's leading scorer so far this season with 13 goals (10 in the league) in 23 games.
A quick striker, Crewe's number 12 didn't make the break through into professional football until March 2003, when he was already 22.
After signing in 2003 for a nominal fee from non-league Quorn Town, Varney broke through into the first team at Crewe, and has not looked back since.
In 79 league and cup appearances for the Railwaymen, Varney has scored an impressive 23 goals, of which 13 have come this season.
The highlight of his career so far must surely be his goal against Manchester United at Gresty Road in the Third Round of this season's Carling Cup.
Now 25, Varney has established himself as a first team regular at Gresty Road, and has formed a very successful partnership upfront with youngster Nicky Maynard.
Team News:
Rovers will once again have a close to fully fit squad, with Steve Jennings and Jason McAteer being the absentee's from the normal first team.
Carl Tremarco and Gareth Taylor were both involved against Brentford whilst Steve Davies has had a further week to recover from injury after being left on the bench last Saturday. All three could feature.
Jones' Prediction: Tranmere 3-1 Crewe