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In league and cup action at Brunton Park the two sides have faced each other a massive 41 times, with Carlisle winning 27 and drawing three, while Crewe have won eleven times. The Blues needing to score three times this evening to reach a century of goals at home to the Railwaymen, while the Alex' need to find the net just the once to raise their bat for a Brunton Park half-century.
As for Johnstone's Paint Trophy action this season, Carlisle received a bye in the first round before coming back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 at home to Port Vale in round two, United then going on to win a penalty shootout 4-3. Crewe meanwhile also got a bye through the opening stage of the competition before then defeating Macclesfield 4-2 on the road in round two in a bizarre match in which three of the six goals were own goals, both of the Crewe ones being scored by Patrick Ada.
The Railwaymen are currently in 11th place in League Two and had been on an unbeaten run of eleven games before losing their last two league matches against Port Vale and Shrewsbury. A third defeat in a row then coming on Saturday when they crashed out of the FA Cup 2-1 at Carlisle's future second round opponents Tamworth.
The Alex', bar their Macclesfield win, struggling away from home all season with a league record of just one win, four draws and two defeats on their divisional travels so far. Those seven matches have certainly been entertaining ones for Crewe however as they have averaged almost four goals a game thanks to both scoring and conceding 13 goals away from Gresty Road.
In team news for Crewe this evening, they have quite a few injury problems upfront with Jordan Connerton (hernia), Shaun Miller (ankle) and Calvin Zola (general fitness) all sidelined. Meanwhile at the back centre-half Mat Mitchel-King is missing after limping out of the FA Cup defeat at Tamworth with a hamstring injury and right-back Carl Martin is absent long-term with a shin problem.
The referee for tonight's match is Nigel Miller from Consett in County Durham, and he will be assisted down the lines by Mark Astley from Denton in Greater Manchester and Paul Kettlewell from Lancaster. Meanwhile the fourth official is Matthew Bristow from Prestwich in Greater Manchester.
One job for the refereeing crew this evening may be to run yet another Brunton Park penalty shootout after 90 minutes if the scores are still level, with no extra-time on the agenda. Under other Johnstone's Paint Trophy rules, a club must include in its starting line-up at least six of the 11 players who started the club's previous game or at least six of the 11 players who have made the most starts in league and domestic cup competitions since the start of the season.