5 League One Tips to Watch This Weekend - Gameweek 3

Paul Lambert’s Ipswich have enjoyed a faultless start to this year’s League One campaign, registering back to back 2-0 victories over Wigan Athletic and Bristol Rovers in their opening two games. Although they performed well last season, it ended in frustration as they missed out on a play-off place, so the Tractor Boys will be hoping to keep the momentum going heading into Saturday’s fixture.

As for Rochdale, they played out a fairly eventful, but goalless draw against Portsmouth last weekend which handed them their first point of the season, having lost 3-1 to last year’s League Two champions, Swindon Town.

With this in mind, it could be a tough afternoon for the away side who lost 11 games on the road last season. A resurgent Ipswich side will be looking to make it three wins in a row to give them a much needed early boost on their quest for promotion.

For this one, we’ve tipped Ipswich to in 1-0, 2-0 or 2-1 at 7/4 - click the link to claim this bet.

Portsmouth have endured a frustrating start to the season, having been held to consecutive goalless draws by Rochdale and Shrewsbury. Despite this, Kenny Jackett’s side remain unbeaten in their previous 20 league matches at Fratton Park, a record that should remain intact on Saturday afternoon.

Their opponents, Wigan, were relegated from the Championship last season and now find themselves in a similar position near the bottom of the table. Indeed, top of the table Ipswich were comfortable winners on matchday one over Wigan, although the Latics may have felt hard done by in their latest defeat as Gillingham edged past them with a 3-2 victory at the DW Stadium.

The last time these two met in a league match was back in 2018, where Portsmouth won 2-1 thanks to now Swansea winger, Jamal Lowe. Another Portsmouth win could certainly be on the cards here, and we’ve gone for the home side to get their season up and running with either a 3-0, 3-1 or 3-2 scoreline at 9/2.

Wimbledon’s last two league matches have certainly not been lacking in entertainment, with a total of 12 goals across their opening fixtures. Their opener against Northampton ended in a suitably entertaining 2-2 draw, but their latest fixture against Plymouth Argyle was nothing short of spectacular.

Having twice levelled the score before half-time and looking in a comfortable position at 4-2 with half an hour to go, the Pilgrims clawed their way back into the game and managed to snatch a point from Wimbledon’s grasp.

Fleetwood will be hoping to repeat the successes of last season where they narrowly missed out on reaching the play-off final. They started with a hard-fought win against 10-man Burton on matchday one, but found themselves undone by two injury-time goals away to Peterborough last time out.

Manager Joey Barton will be looking to get back on track as soon as possible, but with a free-scoring Wimbledon side up next, it looks to be an exciting fixture. Therefore, we can see this fixture being packed with goals, and our tip goes to a Fleetwood win with over 3.5 total goals at 7/2.

Play-off finalists, Oxford United, have endured a tough return to the league, failing to register a goal in their opening two fixtures, which both ended in defeat to Lincoln and Sunderland. However, having only lost nine games last season, Karl Robinson’s side will be hoping to rejuvenate any hopes of returning to a top four spot with a win on Saturday.

As for the home side, Accrington Stanley put on an impressive display against play-off hopefuls Peterborough in their opening game, winning 2-0. However, Burton Albion proved to be a tough outfit on matchday two, with Stanley struggling to get a foothold on the game with just 34% possession.

With Oxford winning just one of their last eight matches in all competitions, and Accrington keeping a clean sheet in four of their last six, our tip for Saturday’s game is for Accrington to win 1-0, 2-0, or 2-1 at 3/1 - click the link to claim.

Both of these sides will be hopeful of finishing in a play-off place or possibly even automatic promotion, so Saturday’s fixture could be the one to watch.

Sunderland’s extraordinary home record, which has seen them unbeaten in 23 out of their last 25 matches in all competitions, demands maximum effort from Peterborough who have significantly bolstered their attacking line over the summer. Peterborough, however, have won just two of their last 14 games away from home in all competitions, so this could be a tough fixture for the Posh.

With both sides getting back to winning ways last weekend having stalled on matchday one, this could be a tough one to call.

However, we expect both teams to get on the scoresheet, so our tip is for the match to end in a draw, with both teams to score at 7/2 - click this link to claim this in your bet slip.

By Charlie Rhodes