EFL Tips | Gab Sutton

Leeds extended their unbeaten league run to 11 matches on Monday night, with a goalless draw at Burnley, a third clean sheet in succession for Daniel Farke’s side.

There has been question marks over first-choice goalkeeper, Ilian Meslier, which remain, but the Whites have only faced three shots on target across those games – all from Sheffield Wednesday – suggesting the Whites have a strong enough out of possession structure to generally stop their goal from coming under siege.

The West Yorkshire outfit also have laudable squad depth, which should help them change games that may not be going their way, having had Junior Firpo, Joe Rothwell, Largie Ramazani, Willy Gnonto and Mateo Joseph all on the bench at Turf Moor.

Visitors Cardiff could only dream of such luxury, although Omar Riza’ side are now seven unbeaten to ease relegation fears – but they haven’t faced any of the top eight in that sequence.

Coventry are climbing the table at pace, after Saturday’s 2-1 victory over Watford extended their winning streak to three, with the Sky Blues having taken an impressive 21 points from Frank Lampard’s opening 12 games in charge.

It was an awkward situation for Lampard to come into, replacing a club legend in Mark Robins, whom many of the Sky Blue Army felt had been treated unfairly by Doug King, so the former Chelsea midfielder had to demonstrate excellent people skills to handle the political nuances of the appointment.

The Midlanders have an aggressive streak to them, while healthy dynamics have been struck in both midfield and attack, which will give the boss nice dilemmas once the likes of Ben Sheaf, Haji Wright and Ephron Mason-Clark return to contention, and Matt Grimes, as reported, signs from Swansea.

It’s the South Wales outfit who happen to host Cov this weekend, who have conceded 18 goals in their last six games in all competitions, with just one point accrued from a possible 15 in 2025, their Championship status is in question.

Millwall’s reported £2.8M capture of Mihailo Ivanović from Vojvodina NS, of the Serbian SuperLiga, is beginning to look a very worthwhile investment.

Ivanovic didn’t quite get the service he had been hoping for under Neil Harris, but the Lions vary their approach play more under his replacement, Alex Neil, coinciding with an excellent run of form for the 20-year-old, who now has three goals in his last five games in all competitions.

Strong, aggressive, and capable of moments of sumptuous quality, whilst also still scoring the ugly goals too, the Serb is forging an exciting partnership with homegrown prospect Raees Bangura-Williams.

The Novi Sad-born forward will be hoping to do more damage to QPR, who have elevated themselves to midtable safety, but lost 2-0 at home to Sheffield Wednesday last time out.

Doncaster’s promotion bid had been undermined by poor home form, but three wins in their last four suggests Grant McCann’s side are starting to find the solutions required to carve teams open.

One such solution could be Charlie Crew, who arrives on loan with a glowing reputation, having featured in competitive matches for both Leeds and Wales – now, the all-action midfielder needs regular games to show exactly what he can do.

As for MK Dons, a previous run of six defeats in eight had blown their promotion bid off course, and it now looks as though the Play-Offs represent the realistic best-case scenario for Scott Lindsey’s side, although a draw with AFC Wimbledon and victory over Harrogate this week has given them some hope.

The Buckinghamshire outfit played superbly last Saturday, and probably should have won, whereas fortune favoured them in midweek where they found themselves on the right end of late drama thanks to Alex Gilbey’s injury-time winner.

After six straight league defeats plunged them down to 23rd, Derby have made the perfect signing to help them stabilize defensively, capturing experienced, reliable Championship centre-back Matt Clarke from Middlesbrough.

Clarke should bring some much-needed assurance to the defence which, Paul Warne hopes, can help his side get on the right side of fine margins in upcoming games, having recently found themselves on the wrong side.

While the Rams are in a dogfight, Sheffield United need the points for different reasons, but last Friday’s surprise 3-0 home defeat to Hull was arguably an accumulation of a drop in performance levels over the last couple of months.

The Blades have added firepower in Tom Cannon and Ben Brereton-Diaz in the last fortnight, as well as tenacity in Hamza Choudhury, but they still need another three additions for a squad that has needed to be revitalized.

* Odds correct at the time of writing. 18+ only. GambleAware.