EFL League Two

Let's start up at Carlisle, where the Cumbrian's welcome new boys Salford. Plenty have been expecting decent things from Salford who have a good budget and generate excitement wherever they go.

What we've seen on the pitch so far however is an exciting team, but one who need to be much better organised if they are to reach their potential. They've already leaked a worrying 76 shots against - the highest in the league. Five points from four matches is probably about as much as Graham Alexander's side have deserved - having been well and truly walloped at both Crawley and Plymouth in their first two away games.

Carlisle are seasoned campaigners at this level and won a handy 12 matches on home soil last season. They look likely to be a mid-table outfit again this season. Quotes of 13/8 with BetVictor and plenty of 8/5 around are more than acceptable in this one.

Another home side worth an interest are Colchester, who play Northampton. John McGreal has a really settled side down in Essex, and their early season position (21st) surely won't last too long. Their opening four matches have seen them draw with Port Vale and Grimbsy, and lose against Plymouth and Cambridge. They also banked a 3-0 EFL Cup victory over Swindon. The loss to Cambridge particularly was well against the run of play, while the same could be said of the Plymouth match to a lesser extent.

Northampton have lost three of their opening five matches so far (Walsall, Swansea and Macclesfield), and it was that recent 3-1 defeat at Macclesfield which really sparked our interest. Fresh from Sol Campbell walking out, it must have been a tough week for the Silkmen, so it says a lot that Northampton were unable to beat them.

The Cobblers went on to beat Swindon, but they staged a proper smash and grab for that one - scoring with their only effort on target in the entire match.

With a solid 58% shot ratio this season, Colchester should be a solid favourite in this one.

Moving onto Macclesfield, they are coping without Campbell so far, and look in better shape on the field than reports suggest they are behind the scenes. They take on Scunthorpe this weekend, who the market has moved against in each of the last four matches - and little wonder it has.

Scunny have leaked 11 goals in their opening four matches, and 69 shots against suggests that not far from fair. They have allowed 30 shots on target - thats a full 10 more than any other side in the division, and they were completely outclassed by Cambridge - a side who many have down as relegation candidates. They have managed just 34% of shots in their matches.

Macclesfield by contrast have posted a handy enough 54% (and 59% of SOT), so their base levels look decent enough.

Finally, early signs have been encouraging for Swindon even if results have been less than commanding. They've been the better side in each of their last three fixtures, but only collected four points. They take on Cheltenham this weekend, a side who look ripe for picking off.

The Robins beat Carlisle in midweek, in a pretty level encounter, shared the spoils with Morecambe before that and got fairly well thrashed by Bristol Rovers in the cup. The only genuinely match winning performance so far has been against Scunthorpe, and we've written plenty about them further up the column!

Recommended Bets

1pt Carlisle to beat Salford City at 13/8

2pts Colchester to beat Northampton at 5/4

2pts Macclesfield to beat Scunthorpe at 19/10

2pts Swindon to beat Cheltenham at 13/10

#Football