Tag: Milestone

EFL League One & League Two

Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson will take charge of his 1000th game this Saturday against Peterborough

Tottenham v Newcastle should be a lively way to get the first Saturday of 2025 underway in the Premier League and Betfair have come up with an appealing Superboost for the 12:30 kick-off.

Alexander Isak scored 25 Premier League goals for Newcastle in 2024 while Anthony Gordon has been directly involved in a goal in each of his last four Premier League appearances for the Magpies.

The pair will enjoy playing against a Tottenham side that leave plenty of gaps at the back.

We’re like a metronome at the moment backing Leyton Orient and they keep winning – it’s now four on the trot for Richie Wellens’ side and they look the best 1/2 shots of the weekend coming up and are a must for any acca.

A New Year’s Day win at Bristol Rovers was a tougher much than envisaged as Rovers’ new intensity levels were noticed in the 3-2 game at the Mem but Orient are creating a ton of chances and scoring at the moment, and while Rovers scored twice, the first time the Londoners had conceded a goal since early November, it was more down to mistakes at the back.

Sonny Perkins earned the plaudits too with a hand in all three Orient goals although at the back, I expect Orient to tighten up for Saturday as they gave up an xG of 2.41.

Back at home again, Orient have won six of their last seven league games against Shrewsbury Town (L1), though did lose the reverse fixture in August 3-0.

KEY OPTA STAT: After failing to win any of their seven home league games between April and October (D3 L4), Leyton Orient have since won five of their last seven at Brisbane Road (D1 L1), keeping six clean sheets during that time.

It’s hard to back Peterborough with any confidence at the moment and they are big outsiders at 15/4 for Saturday’s trip to Wales. This is not a game Posh fans will be looking forward to.

The Posh are down in 18th and their young side is showing its frailties with inexperience as they’ve lost three of their last four but at least earned a point at bottom placed Burton on New Year’s Day.

The goals against column for Darren Ferguson is one of the worst in the division as they’ve conceded 20 on the road, taking that to Wrexham presents all manner of problems, as Wrexham’s home record is still one of the best in the division with 11 wins and just eight conceded.

Wrexham are unbeaten across their last 17 home Football League games (W15 D2), scoring 2.4 goals on average per match in that time. The Welsh side last enjoyed a longer such stint between April 1986 and March 1987 (19 games – W9 D10), and while short again in price, it’s hard to see beyond them at 8/13.

KEY OPTA STAT: Peterborough have lost their last three away league games played on a Saturday and will be looking to avoid losing four such matches in succession for the first time since September 2022.

Rotherham are not known as heavy scorers on the road with just seven scored away all season and only Stevenage have scored less with (three).

That’s the basis of the bet for Saturday – either Huddersfield with a low-scoring win, BTTS ‘No’ or the Unders, and the 3/4 is a cromulent figure to include in our treble to make a 7/2 acca.

All four of Rotherham’s recent matches have hit the Under 2.5 Goals target with three of the matches 1-0 scorelines. One of those was on New Year’s Day with a 0-1 win at Lincoln, a game they gave up just 0.21xG and kept Lincoln to hardly any chances.

However, Rotherham have failed to win any of their last 33 away league games played on a Saturday (D12 L21) since a 2-0 victory over Gillingham in April 2022 which is quite some stat and Yorkshire derby honours can go to the hosts.

KEY OPTA STAT: Huddersfield are unbeaten across their last eight home league games (W6 D2), conceding more than one goal in just one of those matches.

Port Vale are in danger of complete capitulation at the moment and are down to 6th in the table and have scored just one goal in their last six games.

A few months ago they would have been expected to batter Cheltenham, but they were held by the Robins on New Year’s Day to a 0-0 – and in 90 minutes earned just 0.96 xG with just one big chance created. However, it was an improved display, much better than in recent weeks and the return of captain Ben Garrity certainly helped.

The problem appears to be that Darren Moore doesn’t know his best eleven and is making too many changes. Vale have also lost three of their last four away league games against sides from Yorkshire (W1), conceding 11 goals in total across that time.

I’ve struggled personally with Doncaster this season so won’t stoop to the stratagem of trying to back them for a win, instead with Vale’s lack of goal output, the Under 2.5 Goals looks the best option at a shade of odds-on.

KEY OPTA STAT: Doncaster have lost just one of their last 15 home league games played on a Saturday (W10 D4), failing to score in just one of those matches during that time.

Salford broke a club record on New Year’s Day, not for a manager staying in the job for at least five months, but a fifth straight victory. Karl Robinson’s side are flying at the moment and absolutely cruised to a 2-0 win against Harrogate recently.

There’s a case to be made for an outright Salford win here considering the form and the Karl Robinson derby is a reminder to just how good the Dons were many years ago under him and were terrific at this level.

“There have been moments in games [recently], but today I thought that we looked a very strong team – and hopefully we are only going to keep getting better,” said Robinson after Wednesday’s win.

“If anything, we wish that we got more goals. I think that our play certainly deserved that, especially in the first half and towards the latter part of the second half. We missed multiple chances.”

Goals could be on the cards at MK as the Dons have had a mixed period over Christmas with three losses and they conceded six at Newport County. Historically with the Opta Stats, MK Dons have fallen behind in all three of their league games against Salford City, but have come back to win two of those including a 3-1 victory in this exact fixture last season.

KEY OPTA STAT: Salford have lost just one of their last eight away league games played on a Saturday (W3 D4), with the Ammies not conceding more than one goal in a match during that time.

Perhaps Swindon are turning a corner under Ian Holloway? Unbeaten in their last four and a surprising 3-2 last-minute win on Wednesday has pulled them out of the relegation zone, but goodness me they are open.

They’ve conceded in every game since the 5th October and if County have the ‘A’ game for the weekend, their price of 4/6 looks a bit too generous considering Swindon have won just two of their last 25 away league games (D9 L14), scoring just two goals across their last four such matches in total.

Add to that, the Magpies have one of the best defensive home records in the league with just seven conceded and while they lost their most recent game (1-2 to Walsall), they had won three on the spin over Christmas and found their scoring boots again with three against Bradford and five against Cheltenham.

You can back Alan’s League One treble on Saturday 0.5pt @ 7/2

You can back Alan’s League Two treble on Saturday 0.5pt @ 4/1

2024-2025: -1.25pts *Advised to 0.5pt staked unless stated otherwise