Gabriel Sutton's EFL Weekend Picks

After 5-1 and 6-0 respective thumping's of Barnsley, at Oakwell, and Cambridge on familiar soil, Lincoln City are making history for all the right reasons right now.

The Imps have just gone 12 games unbeaten in the third tier for the first time since 1982 and scored 11 goals in four days for the first time since 1936, according to Gary Hutchinson from the Stacey West Blog.

After an initial adjustment period, Michael Skubala is implementing his ideas in-season - always the sign of an excellent coach – maintaining the solid foundations imposed by Mark Kennedy whilst taking things to a whole new level.

Skubala has shown admirable adaptability to respond to the losses of Ethan Hamilton and Conor McGrandles in midfield, which could have derailed City’s season.

The former Leeds coach handed Danny Mandriou a deeper role, freeing up Jack Moylan to roam, weave and create, although the former still made some good runs down the left channel to link up with Reeco Hackett-Fairchild, as he did to provide for Joe Taylor’s tidy finish against Cambridge early in the second half.

The Imps look one of the best teams in the league on current form, and it’d take a brave person to bet against them – so we won’t!

Visitors Bristol Rovers are 11 points shy of the Play-Off spots and 16 clear of the drop zone – the Gas will be professional under Matt Taylor, but it’s not the same as having something obvious to target in front of them.

Huddersfield lost 4-1 at home to West Brom on Sunday, with back-to-back defeats returning André Breitenreiter’s side to the bottom three.

Nonetheless, the Terriers can take huge heart from their first half performance, in which they made a likely Play-Off side look distinctly average, harrying them into wayward passes whilst winning a lot of the 50-50 duels.

Matty Pearson, Michal Helik and Tom Lees won their headers in defence, with the former doing an excellent man marking job, Brodie Spencer and Jaheim Headley got up and down with incredible stamina in the wing-back positions, while Jack Rudoni, Jonathan Hogg and David Kasumu scrapped relentlessly in midfield.

Truthfully, it may not even take half that level of endeavour to keep quiet a Rotherham side who are 20 points adrift of safety, have lost their last nine league games and just been thumped 5-0 by Coventry and Norwich.

The Millers aren’t playing with any sort of pride or belief right now, and it’s hard to see them creating many chances, so the real question is whether the visitors can carve them open.

Breitenreiter may tweak the system from Sunday to bring, perhaps, Chelsea loanee Alex Matos into midfield for extra attacking thrust, and possibly Josh Koroma in for a defender to facilitate a switch from 3-5-2 to 4-3-3.

If Koroma, Sorba Thomas and Delano Burgzorg can combine as intended, Town should find their way through in this Yorkshire Derby.

Having already hit 20 league goals this season, Alfie May is the current favourite for League One’s golden boot, with nobody else above 17.

Four goals in his last four, May’s form is all the more impressive when considering he’s played six games out wide this season but, whether he operates there, in the number 10 position or up top, he finds a way of impacting games.

The former Cheltenham forward’s work ethic is infectious, his link-up play is excellent, and as a finisher he’s ruthless.

May has forged an excellent understanding with 19-year-old Daniel Kanu, who brings mobility and strong hold-up play.

Between them, they could do damage for Charlton, unbeaten in seven league games as one of the division’s form sides, pulling away from relegation danger like a motorboat.

The same can’t be said for hosts Fleetwood, who find themselves six points adrift despite some encouraging signs under Charlie Adam.

Bolton might disagree, after their midweek demolition of Oxford, but Peterborough are arguably the best attacking side in League One.

Whereas previous Posh sides have leant on a prolific individual goalscorer, like Aaron McLean, Craig Mackail-Smith, Britt Assombalonga, Jack Marriott, Ivan Toney and Jonson Clarke-Harris, this side is built differently.

Clarke-Harris is still part of the squad, more by accident than design, and Ricky-Jade Jones is favoured up top for his pace, work rate and hold-up play, which facilitates the quality of Kwame Poku, Joel Randall and Ephron Mason-Clark in the three attacking midfield spots.

Jones is on 10 goals for the season, so he could still amass a reasonable return if he finishes the season well, but he’d still get in the team if he didn’t score another because of his all-round game.

Visitors Portsmouth carry a threat, too, though: since January’s shock 3-0 home defeat to Leyton Orient, the leaders have taken 27 points from an unbeaten 11 games.

Pompey have overcome injury issues through excellent winter recruitment, with midfield dynamo Owen Moxon, creator Myles Peart-Harris and inventive forward Callum Lang all making an impact.

Lang missed the midweek 2-1 victory over Burton, but should return to the side on Saturday, while physical front-man Colby Bishop may also come in from the bench to prove a handful for Josh Knight and Ronnie Edwards.

Grimsby boss David Artell told club media he’s “not bothered” about Forest Green, when asked about their victory at Bradford to match their own 1-0 win over promotion-chasing MK Dons.

Artell is focused on his own side’s performance, and while the gap to the drop zone is still six points, the same as it was before they began their five-game unbeaten run, Town’s current position is undeniably stronger.

The Mariners are now also six points above Colchester, having been previously a point behind them, and two points behind Salford with a game in hand, rather than 10 points.

Ultimately, if Grimsby take care of their own business, and their own performance levels, then someone else will go down.

In the last five games, that’s exactly what they’ve done – they’d been creating chances in almost all their games under Artell, but more recently they’ve found some solidity, especially with recruit Curtis Thompson in the side to bring battling qualities.

Doug Tharme and Harvey Rodgers are starting to forge a strong centre-back pairing, while Justin Obikwu, on loan from Coventry, fared admirably on Tuesday in the absence of key centre-forward Danny Rose.

Grimsby are threatening to become one of the form sides in the league, and they travel to a Gillingham outfit whose Play-Off push is being undermined by chronic inconsistency.

The Gills have an expensively assembled squad, but they haven’t corrected last season’s goalscoring troubles with just 35 in 38 league games for Stephen Clemence’s imbalanced side.