Wrexham and Burton Albion are set to meet at the Pirelli Stadium on Saturday, December 7th.
Wrexham have been able to maintain their spot in the automatic promotion places going into the weekend despite facing several play-off rivals recently.
The Red Dragons dispatched Exeter City with ease before picking up 1-0 wins over Lincoln City and Barnsley at the Racecourse Ground recently.
However, Wycombe Wanderers are still two points clear at the summit with a game in hand while Birmingham City are only one point adrift of Wrexham in third place with two opportunities to close that gap.
As for Burton Albion, they will kick off on Saturday sat 23rd in the third tier with just two wins picked up from a possible 17.
Given the massive gap separating these two sides, a Wrexham win, on paper, is likely.
But the club’s away form and several recent blows mean three points returning to Wales is by no means a guarantee.
The Paul Mullin call Phil Parkinson must make for Burton vs Wrexham
During the win over Barnsley on Tuesday, James McClean and George Dobson picked up their fifth yellow cards of the season, meaning they are now set to miss out this weekend.
Jacob Mendy could start for Wrexham vs Burton in place of McClean, while Sebastian Revan is another option.
However, finding a suitable replacement for Dobson is going to be much trickier and could lead to Paul Mullin being handed his first start in several weeks.
With Mullin struggling in League One, Phil Parkinson has recently been starting Elliot Lee alongside Ollie Palmer in his front two.
This has seen Dobson pushed slightly further forward in the midfield three. However, now the ex-Charlton Athletic man is out, Lee will have to drop back into midfield this weekend.
Yes, Ollie Rathbone can technically play in the Lee/Dobson role, but he has been poor in that position this term and has been in superb form recently when deployed as more of a box-to-box option.
In turn, despite Parkinson clearly not wanting to expose Mullin too much amid his inability to find the net, he does need to start this weekend.
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What Wrexham fans are saying about Paul Mullin amid goal struggles
The 30-year-old missed the 2024 pre-season due to injury and has been unable to recapture his top form this term.
However, with Dobson’s suspension likely meaning he will return to the eleven this weekend, he does have to start finding the back of the net pretty quickly.
| Paul Mullin | League One stats (2024/25) |
| Apperances | 16 |
| Minutes | 653 |
| Goals | 1 |
| Assists | 0 |
Wrexham fans all said the same thing about Mullin after he came off the bench in midweek against Barnsley.
While he did not score yet again, supporters of the Red Dragons were pleased with his display and believe he is now looking back to his best.