Arbroath vs Raith Rovers Prediction

How both sides have been doing

Raith Rovers have won four, drawn two and lost two of their last eight Championship matches, scoring 11 and conceding only five. That's a tidy defensive record for this level. Their only blemish in recent weeks was a 2-0 home loss to Livingston, which snapped a run of three wins and a draw.

Arbroath: 20 completed matches; Raith Rovers: 20 completed matches.

Arbroath

20 matches

Win

35% 7 / 20

Draw

20% 4 / 20

Loss

45% 9 / 20

Scored

20

Conceded

27

Difference

-7

Raith Rovers

20 matches

Win

50% 10 / 20

Draw

25% 5 / 20

Loss

25% 5 / 20

Scored

30

Conceded

17

Difference

+13

Arbroath's numbers are shakier. Three wins, two draws and three losses from the same eight games, with six scored and ten let in. They did beat Queen's Park 2-1 last time out, but that followed back-to-back defeats, including the home loss to Raith Rovers in September.

Raith's goals-against column stands out, suggesting they're tough to break down regardless of venue.

Comparative Team Statistics: Arbroath vs Raith Rovers

Recent head-to-head

These two have met plenty of times down the years, and results have swung both ways. The most recent meeting, back in September, saw Raith Rovers win 4-0, by far the biggest margin in this set of fixtures.

Before that, though, Arbroath had taken points off Raith in three of the previous four meetings, including two away wins. So the one-sided scoreline is more of an outlier than a clear trend.

The head-to-head record doesn't point strongly either way once you look past that single September result.

Where they sit in the table

Raith Rovers are second with 14 points from eight games, while Arbroath are sixth on 11 points from the same number of matches. Both have played exactly eight league fixtures so far.

It's a three-point gap built on two extra wins for Raith, not a huge separation, but it does reflect the trends in their recent form.

What this might mean for the game

Raith arrive with the better recent record and the heavier h2h scoreline fresh in memory, but their home loss to Livingston shows they're not cruising through every game. Arbroath, for their part, have shown they can pick up results against sides in form, as the Queen's Park win demonstrated.

Given Arbroath's home patchiness this season and Raith's tighter defensive numbers, this looks like it could be closer than the table gap suggests, especially if Arbroath build on their last league performance.