Big spenders Birmingham City and Wrexham may be absent after gaining promotion to the Championship but that doesn’t make this season’s race to go up from League One any easier.
Huddersfield Town have spent well during the summer, especially persuading free-scoring Alfie May to join them instead of staying for the fresh challenge at St Andrew’s.
He scored 16 times as Blues powered their way to the title last term, was the top scorer in the division with 23 goals the season for Charlton Athletic the campaign before that, and is already off the mark after finding the net in the Terriers’ 3-0 home win against Leyton Orient in Saturday’s curtain-raiser.
Cardiff City will also be expecting to be in the mix after being relegated last term as will Plymouth Argyle, who are in the same boat, while newly-promoted Doncaster could well feature with the shrewd Grant McCann in the hotseat.
Luton opened the show on Friday with a 1-0 victory courtesy of a late own goal against Wimbledon at Kenilworth Road and are the 10/3 favourites to be promoted as champions just two years after preparing for life in the Premier League.
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Their fall from grace has been staggering and it may take them a while to recover from the double relegation nightmare so let’s doff our punting cap to the other club at this level whose nickname is The Hatters.
Step forward Stockport County who finished third in the league last term before losing a penalty shoot-out to the O’s in the play-off semi-finals. They enjoyed 16 wins and four draws at Edgeley Park last season and if they can maintain that form while improving their away record a smidgeon they can surpass the 87 points they collected and go up as champions.
Stockport banged in 72 league goals in the 2024/25 campaign which was only bettered by Birmingham and have added Malik Mothersille to their attack for £900,000 after he struck 12 times to help Peterborough narrowly escape the drop into League Two.
He has already got off the mark in the 2-0 win at home to Bolton and is each-way value to be top scorer at 20/1 William Hill, bet365 and BoyleSports even though May appeals at 3/1 with bet365 and BetVictor.
Stockport, meanwhile, can deliver a knockout blow to their rivals which hometown hero Ricky Hatton proud of at 7/1 with Betway and they are 21/10 with Sporting Index and SpreadEx to be promoted.
Exeter are 11/10 with William Hill and bet365 to be relegated.
Tennis odds: Svitolina can roll on
Elina Svitolina is 4/6 with Sporting Index to beat Naomi Osaka in the Canadian Open quarter-finals, even though the unseeded Japanese star has dropped just one set in four matches so far in Montreal.
Taylor Fritz is 6/5 with bet365 to defeat last year’s runner-up Andrey Rublev in straight sets as he bids to reach the semis on Centre Court in Toronto.
