EFL Trophy

Always a fun competition, the EFL Trophy returns with a whopping 21 fixtures on Tuesday, although at time of writing no layers are willing to speculate on the chances of Bolton v Bradford ending with any result - not surprising really with Bolton signing no fewer than nine players on deadline day!

Let's start instead at Oxford, where the Norwich U21 side are the visitors. Oxford boss Karl Robinson gave plenty of fringe players a chance in the competition last season and they look extremely short at 4/9 to beat Norwich in this one. The Canaries have a strong academy side which has regularly produced decent first team players and they have it in them to beat their more experienced League One rivals here at odds of 11/2 with Bet Victor.

Crewe are another side who look a healthy enough price given they have opened the season brightly and there must be a good feeling around the club. David Artell treated this competition with respect last season, and while results didn't always follow, they deserve another chance.

Nigel Clough has been at Burton a while now, and he showed his relative contempt for the cup last season - a total of 22 players took part in just three matches last season with only two starting each of them - one of whom was Joe Sbarra who started fewer league games than he did Trophy games!

Finally, it's almost impossible to see Lincoln fielding many of the same faces who travelled to Doncaster at the weekend when the team bus makes the same trip. Manager Danny Cowley saw his side progress out of the group stages last season, but its noteworthy that of the nine players who started three or more games in this competition, only Harry Anderson was a regular first team starter.

The likes of Bernard Mensah, Sam Slocombe, Adam Crookes, and Kellan Gordon each started all the Trophy matches without starting a single league match.

It's got to be worth backing Doncaster at 17/10 to win in what will likely be a battle of the reserve players in this one.

1pt Norwich U21 to beat Oxford at 11/2 (BetVictor)

2pts Crewe to beat Burton at 9/4 (Ladbrokes)

2pts Doncaster to beat Lincoln at 17/10 (Betway)

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