Saturday EFL predictions - best bets for the 3pm kick-offs

Doncaster v Fleetwood

Few men in football divide opinions quite like Joey Barton but there’s one thing most people agree on, he’s got a tune out of Fleetwood this season.

The signs were there last season that the Cod Army were a top-six side-in-waiting and Barton was frustrated with their final ranking of 11th. A busy summer later and the former Manchester City midfielder has got Fleetwood off to a flyer.

It’s two wins out of two in Sky Bet League One and they look good value to complete the hat-trick at Doncaster.

Barton likes playing Donny. Last season’s double header against a Rovers side who would make the playoffs ended in a 7-0 aggregate scoreline in Fleetwood’s favour.

And this Rovers side are nowhere near as strong as the 2018-19 model. Players have left, notably ace marksman John Marquis and loan star Mallik Wilks, and the upshot is a pair of underwhelming efforts against Gillingham and Rochdale and a 1-0 defeat at Grimsby in the League Cup.

The manner of Fleetwood’s 3-1 win at Peterborough suggests Barton’s boys can win anywhere.

Recommendation
Fleetwood
2pts 5-2 bet365

Nottingham Forest v Birmingham

Two sides going through major transitions clash at The City Ground, where Forest can pick up their first three points of the season.

It’s been a tough start to the season for new boss Sabri Lamouchi with fixtures against West Brom and Leeds. The first ended in a luckless 2-1 loss, the second a gutsy 1-1 draw after being second-best for long periods.

Forest are getting better day by day under the former French international, who has gone into battle this term with a raft of new signings.

It’s also all change at Birmingham under Pep Clotet where the one real concern for fans has to be a lack of goals. They just look light up front especially when Lukas Jutkiewicz is left isolated.

Forest have pace to burn out wide and good options in attack and that could be decisive.

Recommendation
Nottingham Forest
2pts 21-20 Coral, Ladbrokes

Stoke v Derby

We’re all waiting for the Nathan Jones era to explode into life at Stoke, but is it just possible it won’t happen at all?

They drifted at the back end of last season under Jones as he made tweaks to a side who were going nowhere. This season, though, they’ve added two more defeats to the losses column and they weren’t good efforts.

Now they’re looking at three wins out of 22 under Jones and it won’t take too many more for patience to start wearing thin.
Defeat is definitely a possibility when the Potters welcome Phillip Cocu’s Derby. The Rams have culled four points this season and had Martyn Waghorn not missed a penalty against Swansea, it could have been six.

Recommendation
Derby
1pt 5-2 bet365

Forest Green v Grimsby

Forest Green and Grimsby clash at The New Lawn after enjoying fine League Cup successes in the week.

Rovers beat Charlton in a shootout, Grimsby took care of Doncaster. Both are also in good form in Sky Bet League Two with four points to show from their opening two salvos.

Forest Green are merely carrying on where they left off last season, a campaign which saw them reach the playoffs.

They’ll be confident, especially as they crushed Grimsby 7-1 on aggregate last term.

Recommendation
Forest Green
1pt 11-10 Coral, Ladbrokes

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