EFL Tips | Gab Sutton

Bolton will be frustrated to have only managed a draw at home to struggling Shrewsbury last time out, despite Ian Evatt’s side clawing back from two goals behind.

The Trotters would still be classed as an in-form side, though, having won each of the previous four games, and while they’re currently 14th, they could technically move within three points of second spot with a win, if three other results go their way.

Of current top six incumbents, it’s probably that only Birmingham plus two others will stay there, so Wanderers could afford to have this slow start to the season and still feel as though the promotion equation is within reach.

Visitors Burton, meanwhile, remain winless and are languishing in 23rd, having conceded 13 goals in their last five league games.

Wigan boast League One’s strongest defensive record, with Shaun Maloney’s side having conceded a mere five goals in their opening 10 league games, following six consecutive clean sheets.

Having one of the best young goalkeepers in the country between the sticks certainly helps, but Sam Tickle has been well protected by a defence including Will Aimson, who was nominated for League One’s Player of the Month in September.

The Latics also possess James Carragher, with obvious family connections, and is very much a chip off the old block with his aggressive, full-blooded displays – he shares his father’s versatility, too.

Hosts Cambridge, meanwhile, have a mere one point to their name from their first nine games, looking error-prone at the back and wasteful in the final third.

Borja Sainz is joint-top goalscorer in the Championship with seven goals for the season already.

In Johannes Hoff Thorup’s system, the Spaniard is responsible for holding the width for large swathes of play, but because of how selfless centre-forward Josh Sargent is, Sainz has had freedom to cut loose in the final third and break into goalscoring areas.

The in-possession midfield quartet of Fisher, McLean, Nunez and Slimani are a lot more involved in general build-up, which allows Sainz to at times ghost into the danger zones unchartered, already bettering the league tally he amassed throughout the whole of the previous campaign.

The 23-year-old is out to do more damage at Stoke, who look set for a season of chronic inconsistency.

Had you whispered in the 89th minute at Accrington Stanley in September, to angry Port Vale fans who were witnessing a no-show in East Lancashire that saw them trail by two, that they’d top the table in less than a month, they might have thought you mad.

That, though, is exactly what has happened, because injury-time goals from Jayden Stockley and Antwoine Hackford earnt Vale an unlikely point at The Crown, before four home points against bottom half strugglers Swindon and Colchester, prior to successive 1-0 away wins at promotion aspirants Notts County and MK Dons.

The Valiants carry a threat with a target man in Stockley, a poacher in Ruairi Paton, a speedster in Hackford, and a forward in Lorent Tolaj who can do a little bit of everything.

Visitors Fleetwood carry a threat, too, though, with Charlie Adam’s energetic, vibrant side having lost just once this season.

Sheffield Wednesday will think themselves unlucky to be as low as 15th in the Championship: Danny Röhl’s side could easily have attained six points off QPR and Luton, rather than just the one, which could have been the case without a 96th-minute equaliser in the former game, and Dom Bernard’s red card in the latter.

At such an early stage, the extra five points is everything, so Owls are millimetres away from being 7th – which is probably a greater reflection of how good a side they are.

Conversely, Burnley are 3rd, but with performance levels that only convince in the defensive sense: the Clarets are creatively very limited and have sold eight of the players that featured in the opening 4-1 and 5-0 victories over Luton and Cardiff.