There is a near full round of matches in Sky Bet League 1 on Saturday with 11 fixtures taking place, with the other one being live on the TV on Sunday, which we will preview later in the weekend. The leaders Luton are involved in that Sunday game so the chasing pack have the chance to put some pressure on them on Saturday.
Events at the top and the bottom of the table will play out and become a little clearer over the course of Saturday so we should be in for another exciting, and I dare say unpredictable day of action in the third tier.
Saturday’s fixtures are as follows: (3pm unless stated)
Scunthorpe United v Doncaster Rovers (1pm)
Accrington Stanley v Southend United
AFC Wimbledon v Charlton Athletic
Blackpool v Oxford United
Bristol Rovers v Sunderland
Burton Albion v Fleetwood Town
Peterborough United v Shrewsbury Town
Plymouth Argyle v Rochdale
Portsmouth v Barnsley
Walsall v Bradford City
Wycombe Wanderers v Gillingham
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Big Matches
There is only one place to look for the biggest match in the division on Saturday and that is at Fratton Park where Portsmouth will look to get their promotion challenge back on track when they host second placed Barnsley in a humdinger of a contest in the race for the Championship. Sunderland in third make their way to Gloucestershire to face Bristol Rovers. All three sides will be eager to win with Luton not playing until Sunday.
Best of the Rest
There is a big London derby over at Kingsmeadow where AFC Wimbledon will look to continue their attempt to avoid the drop. They take on Charlton Athletic who are fifth but who are slumping in the wrong direction at the worst time. The action begins at Glanford Park where Scunthorpe United will take on the other team in the play-off places in Doncaster United. There are two big matches at the foot of the table as Plymouth Argyle host Rochdale and Walsall take on Bradford City with losing not an option for any of those teams.
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Betting
I’ll go with two on Saturday with the first one being on a Plymouth Argyle side who look a huge price to take care of Rochdale. Plymouth have only lost once in their last nine matches, and that came away to Wycombe where they were probably bored into submission waiting for the timewasting to stop. Over the same period, Rochdale have just one win in nine matches which was against a Walsall side who are fading fast. Four of those nine matches have seen them ship four or more goals so Rochdale have a massive problem. There was a case to be made that they had a tough run of fixtures but losing 4-3 to AFC Wimbledon in midweek scuppered that theory. Plymouth went on a run like this at this stage last year and can continue their current one here.
I’ve mentioned a few times in recent weeks how I believe Luton and Barnsley are head and shoulders above the rest in this league and it is time to put my money where my mouth is when the latter go to Fratton Park to take on a Portsmouth side who last won in the league on New Year’s Day. Barnsley are on a wonderful 13 match unbeaten run which doesn’t surprise me because some of the football that they play is very good for this level. Portsmouth can’t be helped from events of the last week. They surrendered a 3-0 lead at Southend last week and would have lost at home to Bristol Rovers on Tuesday night had the Gasmen not hired an NFL kicker to take a penalty! Portsmouth are struggling for a settled side and Barnsley can take advantage and put real daylight in the table between themselves and their opponents.
Tips
WON – Back Plymouth Argyle (-0.25AH) to beat Rochdale for a 5/10 stake at 1.95 with Betfred
Back them here:
PUSH – Back Barnsley (0AH) to beat Portsmouth for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with BetVictor
Back them here:
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