THE PARS are on the road for a second successive weekend as they head north to the Angus coast to take on Arbroath.
James McPake's side sit fifth in the Championship after two successive wins and, following a defeat for fourth-top Airdrieonians at Ayr United last night, can jump into the final Premiership promotion play-off spot with a victory.
Their opponents sit bottom of the table, nine points adrift of second bottom Inverness Caledonian Thistle, and a further four behind eighth-placed Queen's Park.
Here's our look ahead to today's game.
Form guide
Dunfermline, as noted above, have won both of their previous outings, having lost the two matches they played prior.
A rousing 3-1 home success over league leaders Dundee United, in front of the BBC Scotland cameras, was followed by a hard-fought 1-0 win at Greenock Morton on Saturday, courtesy of Miles Welch-Hayes' first goal for the club.
The Pars have won four and drawn one of their last seven outings, and have picked up five wins and six draws from their 15 away matches so far in the league.
They can go fourth with a win this afternoon as they sit one point behind Airdrieonians, who lost last night to Ayr United, but who have a superior goal difference and a game in hand.
Arbroath go into this game deep in relegation trouble and have lost their last three matches.
Jim McIntyre, an ex-Pars player and manager, has watched his side win just once since mid-December, which was a thrilling 3-2 comeback win over Raith Rovers at the beginning of the month.
Since winning at Inverness Caledonian Thistle on December 16, they have lost eight of the 14 games they've played since, drawing five of them.
They have won three, drawn three and lost eight of their 14 matches at Gayfield in this season's Championship so far.
Recent meetings
Today is the fourth and final meeting of the clubs this term and the Pars hold the upper hand - just.
A 3-0 win at KDM Group East End Park at the end of November was followed by a 1-1 draw at Gayfield two days before Christmas, where Craig Wighton's last-minute header rescued a point for Dunfermline.
Last month, Malachi Fagan-Walcott's 18th minute opener looked to be setting Dunfermline on the road to victory, but Thomas O'Brien's second half equaliser earned a draw for the Lichties.
Athletic, unbeaten in their last four meetings with Arbroath, have won 36, drawn 20 and lost 29 of the league fixtures between the teams. Overall, according to Soccerbase, they have won 49, drawn 23, and lost 34.
Team news
James McPake has reported that Craig Wighton and Aaron Comrie are making progress from their injuries, whilst Ben Summers would be assessed ahead of kick off.
Rhys Breen returned for the reserves in midweek and should be in contention.
From the dugout
James McPake: "It's going to be a tough game, it always is going up there, we know that.
"The game up there was a pretty boring game earlier in the season, the one here wasn't great either, the draw. That's from a Dunfermline point of view - they'll probably say the one down here was a decent enough game for them.
"We've not done it, we've not managed three victories in a row this season in the league I don't think.
"The squad is healthy. We've got a good group of players to choose from, and we'll go up and know we need to be at the levels we were at Morton if we're going to get anything out of the game."
Kick off at Gayfield is at 3pm. Press Sport will be reporting live from Kelty Hearts v Edinburgh City in League One, but will have updates as they happen from the Pars match.
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