Gabriel Sutton's EFL Tips

Luton haven’t had the best start to their return to the Championship after relegation from the Premier League last season, with two wins in their first seven causing some local discontent.

The Hatters, though, are in a false position in 19th, having spurned lots of chances so far this season, with Elijah Adebayo particularly culpable, while their opponents have been clinical – it’s not a trend that will last forever.

Head coach Rob Edwards does need to make one or two tweaks to make his side more solid, especially in midfield, where bringing Marvellous Nakamba into the XI will help, as will switching from 3-4-3 to 3-5-2 with an orthodox front two.

Make the required changes and the hosts should show their quality against a newly promoted Oxford side who have taken none of their 10 points on the road.

Crawley will have their work cut out to beat the drop now legendary manager Scott Lindsey has left for MK Dons following his heroics to take them up last season.

Until the Sussex club find a replacement, it’ll be Ben Gladwin taking the reins: the former midfielder is well liked by players, but has only just retired from playing, so is inexperienced as a coach let alone a manager.

The opposite is true of Nigel Clough, who has shown his wily nous to deliver an outstanding start to the season with his Mansfield side flying high in fifth after a third straight victory was recorded at Northampton at the weekend.

The front two of Lee Gregory and Will Evans work tirelessly for the Stags, while Clough’s preference for versatility is paying off with utility man Deji Oshilaja filling in superbly in central defence.

James Berry-McNally has become more important to Chesterfield in League Two than he was for them in last season’s National League title-winning campaign.

The wide forward only started nine league games in 2023-24, often brought on for his raw energy and ball-carrying ability off the bench, but he still managed to chip in with nine goals.

This year, injuries in the three attacking midfield areas has seen the former Macclesfield man undertake increased responsibility, starting six games already, and he’s already grabbed that opportunity with five goals.

Brimming with confidence right now, Berry has a great chance of adding to his seasonal tally at likely strugglers Bromley, off the back of a brace in the 3-0 victory at fellow promotion hopefuls Doncaster.

Hull have enjoyed a mixed start to life under new head coach Tim Walter, but at this early stage, back-to-back wins has transformed them from looking over their shoulders to reaching the top half.

Walter employs an unusual build-up method, whereby the four defenders in his 4-3-3 are responsible for the bulk of the play, although one of Lewie Coyle, Alfie Jones, Sean McLoughlin and Cody Drameh tends to drift into central midfield.

What’s unusual is that they don’t tend to use their number six in early build-up, which means the quartet must do a lot of the heavy lifting: when it works, the #6 is free to play a killer pass, but when it doesn’t, they can be countered on easily.

Hull’s high-risk, high-reward approach could lead to lots of high-scoring games this season, while hosts QPR have seen both teams score in each of their six league encounters.

Northampton have a dangerous front three in Tyler Roberts, Tariq Fosu and Mitch Pinnock, who can cause problems for opponents in transitions, as they proved in a 3-1 victory at Huddersfield the weekend before last.

Where they struggle is perhaps progressing the ball into those areas without last season’s star, on-loan playmaker Marc Leonard, but in some ways it’ll be easier against a side like Bolton, because they’re so possession-based – there will be lots of opportunities to turn the ball over and have their attacking players in the game straight away.

The visitors were much fancied for promotion in pre-season, and they do arrive at Sixfields off the back of successive victories after a poor start, but the case remains that defeat would put pressure on boss Ian Evatt.

The Trotters can be got at, despite their quality: they’ve conceded 11 goals in their first seven games.