GW 2 – Ones to Watch

Matt: I hope you all enjoyed GW 1 and those of you playing for the very first time quickly got into the swing of things! It’s great to be back, even if it wasn’t the best of starts for many of us! It did look a tough opening week on paper and that’s exactly how it panned out for a large number of players. At least all of our tips scored, albeit mine both took an absolute age before finally finding the net! Let’s see if we can make it a little less stressful in GW 2!

First up for me is the match between AFC Fylde and Ebbsfleet United. Fylde were a fairly common pick throughout last season and have earned themselves a reputation as being very reliable on home soil, so i’m thinking a match at Mill Farm against an Ebbsfleet side who have already conceded a worrying 7 goals in their opening two league games is too tempting to turn down. That said, The Coasters did draw 0-0 at home to Chorley on Tuesday evening, so that reliability i was talking about could well have come back to bite me had that fixture fallen on a weekend! I fancy them to make up for that rare blank by banging a few goals in on Saturday.

For the second week running i’m heading over the border for tip number two, this time into the Scottish Championship, where Inverness Caledonian Thistle take on Arbroath at The Caledonian Stadium. Caley’s league campaign got off to a horrendous start last weekend as they were thumped 4-1 at Dundee United, whilst newcomers to the Championship Arbroath recorded a solid, if not spectacular, 0-0 draw against Queen of the South. On that basis this looks a somewhat bizarre pick, but ICT are a different animal on home turf and with the visitors yet to be properly tested at this higher level, i’m hopeful it will pay off nicely. Their previous three home games have seen them rack up a healthy 10 goals, more of the same here please!! Good luck to you all.

Ally: At first glance this looks another tough week, as teams are all still finding their feet in their respective leagues, and for the majority of teams we don’t have much form to go yet.

For my first tip, I’m heading to the Championship where newly-relegated Fulham are looking for their first points of the season in a home clash against Blackburn Rovers. The Cottagers had just one season in the Premier League, despite investing over £100 million last summer. However they have managed to hold on to a significant number of that squad, and the likes of Alexander Mitrovic and Tom Cairney have more than enough quality to shine at this level, and manager Scott Parker has added to his ranks with some astute Premier League loan signings in the shape of Anthony Knockaert from Brighton and Ivan Cavaleiro from Wolves, both of whom have Championship experience. Blackburn also got off to a losing start last weekend, and Tony Mowbray’s side are likely to put up stubborn resistance, but I expect Fulham’s attacking quality to prevail here.

For my second selection I’m heading to Scottish League Two where newly promoted Cove Rangers got off to a great start last week with a 5-0 thrashing of last season’s runners up Edinburgh City to send a real signal of intent to the rest of the league. This weekend sees their first test away from Balmoral as they head down from Aberdeen to Coatbridge to face last season’s 9th placed side Albion Rovers, who barely won a game last season. This season has started far more promisingly for Albion with a 3-2 win last week at Stenhousemuir, though I suspect that Cove will provide a much sterner examination this weekend and I’m expecting to see a few goals here unless the weather gods intervene. Good luck with your selections!