5 EFL Goalscorer Tips - 26/8/23

Ipswich lead the way at the top of the Championship after the first three rounds of fixtures, winning all three of their games so far and will now face Leeds United on Matchday 4 at Portman Road, a game which they will view as one which they should be emerging from with three points easily.

Leeds have failed to win any of their opening three fixtures, and have not won a competitive league fixture since the 4th of April, which should provide a huge confidence boost to Kieran McKenna and his men that they can get the job done this weekend. Key to their efforts this season will be striker Conor Chaplin, who was the Tractor Boys’ top scorer with 26 goals last season as they won promotion from League One, and he has finally got off the mark in the Championship with a goal against QPR last Saturday – we think Chaplin, having now gotten off the mark, will continue to do so and especially in this game considering the fact that Ipswich are coming up against a demoralised Leeds side who they will, in all likelihood, convincingly beat.

Six players are currently on a tally of three goals scored in the Championship already, with Che Adams being one of two Southampton players on that list, and we expect the former Birmingham City man to add to that tally this weekend when Southampton host struggling QPR at St Mary’s.

The Hoops have lost two of their three opening league matches, and have won a total of just four of their 16 matches under the management of Gareth Ainsworth since his appointment back in February, with the club looking set for another season spent flirting with relegation.

But, despite suffering relegation from the Premier League, Southampton still enter the second tier with one of the best squad out of the 24 clubs, with strikers Che Adams and Adam Armstrong reliable Championship goal-getters.

Armstrong has scored his three goals in the two opening matches, while Adams has scored a goal in all three. And considering Adams’ fine goalscoring record against QPR, having scored four in five previous appearances against the London club, we expect him to do so again this weekend and to be the first to do so in what could be a rout for the Saints.

Early pace-setters Bolton host Burton Albion in our first League One tip, with the three points looking a formality for the home side. Burton have struggled in their opening four fixtures, suffering three losses and picking up a draw in a run of form that sees them currently sit rock bottom of the table.

In stark contrast, Bolton are currently in second place having won three of their opening four games, and just as they did last season, they will be gunning for an automatic promotion or play-off spot. 5th was the best that they could muster last campaign, but manager Ian Evatt will hope for slightly better this season as the club looks to end what is now a third consecutive year spent in the third tier.

Former Burton striker Victor Adeboyejo, now at Bolton, will be an important part of that promotion push, with the Nigerian having already bagged 4 goals and 1 assist in 4 outings after a 16-goal showing last season. And with his confidence now surely brimming after scoring a hat-trick last Tuesday, we expect Adeboyejo to bag again against what is a Burton side low on confidence and whom he scored against last season when these two sides met.

19th-place meets 15th-place as Wigan host Barnsley at the DW Stadium this Saturday in a match in which two of the division’s likely Golden Boot candidates also meet.

Wigan’s Charlie Wyke already has 5 goals to his name, with three of those goals coming in Wigan’s last two matches, while Barnsley’s leading man Devante Cole has scored four goals in total so far.

We are predicting both of these players to score this weekend when the two sides meet in what will be a very interesting encounter between a Barnsley side who will be looking for a spot in the play-offs once again after finishing 4th and losing in the play-off final last season, against a Wigan side who are in financial turmoil and started the season on -8 points having been sanctioned for said financial problems.

The Latics have now moved onto 2 points following their surprise record of three wins from their opening four games, which including a shock 4-0 thrashing of Bolton in which Wyke bagged a brace.

Andy Cook was Bradford’s hero last season as he plundered a stunning 28 goals to fire the Bantams all the way up to the League Two play-off places, eventually recording a 6th-place finish and defeat to Carlisle in the play-offs.

Cook’s 28 goals have not been matched by any other forward in the club’s modern history, with only the legendary Dean Windass’s 27 strikes back in the 2004/05 season coming close. Now surprisingly, Cook has failed to find the net in any of Bradford’s opening four games so far this campaign, but we think he might finally break his duck this weekend when Bradford play Crewe Alexandra, with Cook having previously scored twice in his three previous appearances against the Railwaymen.

It is important to note that Cook had a similarly slow start last season, scoring just once in the opening 4 games of the campaign. He went on to score 28 – might he put up similar numbers this year, with his first of the season potentially coming against Crewe?