EFL 5/1 Acca – Gab Sutton

Ipswich have moved within five points of the top two with back-to-back home wins over Coventry and Stoke, completing a return of 21 points from 10 games for Kieran McKenna’s side.

The Tractor Boys scored early on against the Potters on Wednesday through Jaden Philogene and, for the rest of the match, they showed their organisational qualities by having only 43% possession, and limiting their opponents to just six shots, whilst showing plenty of ambition of their own to grab the elusive second.

Town had a subdued start to the season, as McKenna took a few weeks to mould a supremely gifted group of players – better on paper than 2023-24’s promotion-winners – into an efficient team, but he now seems to have found a formula.

Whereas, hosts Leicester are still having that problem; they remain reliant on individualism and find themselves underachieving in the bottom half.

With just three defeats in their first 18 league games, and 16 goals conceded, Bolton have been a reliable team so far this season and are only three points off the automatic promotion spots.

After draws with fellow promotion aspirants Luton and Bradford, then a 4-0 FA Cup humbling by Swindon, Steven Schumacher’s side bounced back with a 1-0 victory at 10-man Mansfield, thanks to a first goal of the season for Jordi Osei-Tutu.

The Trotters were able to win with would-be star players like Amario Cozier-Duberry, Josh Sheehan and Thierry Gale on the bench, which is testament to their strength in depth – something they’ll find very useful at this stage of the season.

Visitors Exeter have had a difficult time of things off the field, with their financial situation making a January fire-sale looking likely; the strugglers have responded on the pitch, with a 4-0 FA Cup thumping of Wycombe preceding a 1-0 league victory over Wimbledon, but Gary Caldwell’s side will be up against it at the venue they lost 7-0 at two years ago.

Fleetwood have taken 12 points from their last eight league games, which isn’t bad for Pete Wild’s side, when considering they’ve faced four of the top nine in that sequence – and they’ve also beaten League One Luton on route to the FA Cup third Round.

The Trawlermen are among the lower ranking possession-teams in League Two, averaging 47%, but they’re also creative, boasting a strong midfield trio in Harrison Neal, Elliot Bonds and Matty Virtue or Mark Helm, and an enviable roster of strikers including Ryan Graydon.

With that in mind, the Fylde coast visitors look underrated for the trip to bottom-of-the-league Newport.

The away win might have been evens or odds-on when the Exiles were under previous management, but there’s no guarantee that the inexperienced Christian Fuchs will be what they needed to turn things around.