EFL 8/1 Acca – Gab Sutton

Queens Park Rangers fans begin 2025-26 as optimistic as they’ve been for a number of years, after an exciting summer in which the club has poached League One hot-shots Amadou Mbengue and Kwame Poku.

The Rs have a talented squad with a competitive best XI that could thrive in the early weeks, even if their lack of depth may get shown up later in the campaign.

Visitors Preston North End, meanwhile, aren’t quite as hopeful after last season’s dice with the drop, enjoying just 10 wins in 2024-25: only relegated Cardiff won fewer, and they haven’t had quite the extensive rebuild that boss Paul Heckingbottom wanted.

The Lilywhites concluded last season with just one win in 15 and took three points from the eight that followed their FA Cup quarter-final exit – the question is whether they’ve recruited well enough to arrest that slide.

Stevenage made their goalscoring troubles a thing of the past on the opening day, beginning 2025-26 with a 3-2 victory at Blackpool, with Jamie Reid back to his impeccable form from the year before, grabbing a brace.

Alex Revell has added fresh creativity to his side this year, recruiting Chem Campbell, Bez Lubala and Phoenix Patterson to his squad, while the Boro boss is close to another striker with Football League experience from a Championship club.

With the Hertfordshire outfit making those strides, these are exciting times, if they can back up their opening day performance with a strong showing against Matt Hamshaw’s Rotherham.

The Millers began with a 2-1 victory over Port Vale, following a busy summer; they started that game superbly, but made it nervier against 10-men with the lead for an hour than they would have liked, and in the end had to dig in at 10 against 10.

Grimsby Town produced the stand-out performance of the EFL’s opening weekend, demolishing Crawley 3-0; the scoreline didn’t flatter David Artell’s side, either – they could have knocked a few more past their visitors on another day.

The rest of the season will reveal whether that was the performance of automatic promotion contenders, or simply a midtable side on a great day, but the signs are enormously positive for the Mariners, with Jaze Kabia standing out with his aggressive runs up top.

Town will have to find a way past Harrogate goalkeeper James Belshaw, who impressed last season and began this one with another clean sheet last week, with the North Yorkshire outfit enjoying a 1-0 victory at Bristol Rovers.

If Grimsby right winger Darragh Burns can isolate left-back Warren Burrell in 1v1 scenarios on the flank, he could have plenty of joy, which may force the hosts into a deeper shape to address the issue, allowing space for George McEachran, Kieran Green and Evan Khouri to call the shots in midfield.