Artell knows it always tough against Appleton's Lincoln City side

David Artell believes that Lincoln City have experienced the same issues as his Crewe Alexandra side after losing key players in the summer. Michael Appelton’s Imps have been real contenders for promotion over the last couple of seasons, but have struggled more this season after seeing some of their better players depart and influential loan players return to their parent clubs.

Last season, Jorge Grant scored 17 goals in all competitions before joining newly promoted Peterborough United. Over the summer, Tayo Edun joined Championship side Blackburn Rovers and our former midfielder, James Jones, joined the things happening at non-league Wrexham.

Artell told the club’s official website: “Lincoln are experiencing a period of transition, a bit like ourselves. They lost some good players in the summer. They had some influential loans who went back and top scorer, Jorge Grant, moved to Peterborough. They also allowed a few others to move on. That is what happens when you lose good players.

“They will be looking to improve their league position as quickly as possible, so we know it will be another tough game. We have to use the ball well when we have it and we have been controlling games a bit better of late. We have work to do but anyone who has seen our recent games would have seen the improvement in the performances. Now we have to turn those performances into results.

“Michael will be thinking the same at Lincoln. He has been a bit unwell and that would have impacted them too. We hope Michael is fully over that now and we wish him well because he is a good guy and a very good manager. You don’t become a bad manager over one summer when you lose a lot of your best players.

“He has done an outstanding job there and it is always tough against Lincoln. “