NICKY Ajose will be keen to make an instant impact for Swindon Town today – but the defence he is set to come up against could not be better positioned to stop him.

Ajose is set to make his second Swindon debut in their League One clash away at Crewe, with the striker having rejoined the club on a free transfer from Leeds on Wednesday.

The Alex defence know all about Ajose’s quality in front of goal as he spent much of the 2014-15 campaign on loan at Gresty Road.

Ajose bagged eight goals in 27 appearances for Crewe as they staved off relegation on the final day of the season, although all of those came in his first dozen outings.

He may have endured something of a barren spell in the back end of his Crewe career but Alex defender Jon Guthrie – who grew up not far from Swindon in nearby Pewsey – says his team will be on their guard to prevent Ajose rediscovering his hot streak today.

“He came in last season and when he first arrived, he was absolutely on fire and got a lot of goals,” said 23-year-old full-back Guthrie.

“He’s a very dangerous player. We know exactly what we are up against because on his day, he can be deadly.

“He probably played a massive part in keeping us up last season. I’m not sure of the exact number of points he won us but it would have been a few when he first arrived and that made a big difference come May.

“It certainly helps that we know him as he was here for a while so we know about his game and his movement.

“He is hard to stop when he is in on goal, so we are just going to have to try to stop them getting the ball to him.”

Both teams head into the game with makeshift sides, having seen their squads decimated by injuries and international call-ups.

But whatever team Town do put out, Guthrie says Alex will have to be at their very best if they are to claim a maiden win of the campaign.

“I doubt either team knows their starting XI yet but we know Swindon are a dangerous side whoever plays,” said Guthrie.

“We’ve not started the season how we would have wanted to. We would like to have got that first win under our belts but hopefully that can come on Saturday.”