5 League One Tips - 28/1/23

Two sides in good form meet at the Valley in Saturday’s early kick-off in League One, with Charlton facing off against Bolton.

Charlton have won three games on the bounce, as the Addicks look to push themselves up the table. The South-East London outfit picked up a big 3-1 win away to Portsmouth before beating Lincoln 2-1 at home. Last time out, Dean Holden’s side beat Barnsley 2-0, with goals from Tyrese Campbell and Jesurun Rak-Sakyi. It's seen the Addicks move up to 15th in the table, opening a gap of four points to 16th place Lincoln below them. Charlton sits behind a cluster of teams tightly packed together just under the play-off places – highlighted with eighth-placed Peterborough just four points away.

Bolton will be a strong team to come up against, with the Trotters currently in a play-off spot. The midweek 1-0 win over Forest Green sees Ian Evatt’s men in fifth place, four ahead of Barnsley in sixth. With two in-form teams going at it, it could see plenty of goals in the 12:30 pm game.

An in-form Shrewsbury will be hopeful of heaping more misery on Forest Green Rovers when FGR travel to Montgomery Waters Meadow on Saturday.

Steve Cotterill’s side have won three games in a row, bumping Salop into ninth place in League One. Shrewsbury are one of those sides lingering below the play-off places with Barnsley just five points away.

Striker Christian Saydee is Shrewsbury’s top scorer in the league this season with seven goals, including one against Cambridge in the 5-1 home win last Saturday. He will be wanting to add to his tally against a Forest Green Rovers side that are sitting rock-bottom, manager-less following the sacking of Ian Burchnall, and go into the weekend after seven defeats in their last eight league games.

Oxford United travel to the Pirelli Stadium on Saturday to take on Burton Albion.

Burton are struggling at the bottom end of the table, second from bottom and just one point above Forest Green. The Brewers have lost their last three in all competitions, including being knocked out of the FA Cup by League Two Grimsby Town three weeks ago. Their last game saw them hammered 4-0 at home by Shrewsbury a fortnight ago, before two games were postponed.

Oxford have won two of their last three as they separate themselves from the bottom half and look towards the top half. The U’s are 12th in the table and eight points behind the top six. Karl Robinson’s side picked up a massive win last weekend at home to promotion-chasing Ipswich, before being beaten on Tuesday night away to Wycombe. We’ve tipped them to bounce back with a win against a struggling Burton.

Two teams looking to bounce back from losing streaks lock horns The Completely-Suzuki Stadium this weekend, when Port Vale are the visitors against Cheltenham.

The hosts go into Saturday’s 3 pm kick-off on the back of four-straight league defeats. Last weekend the Robins were beaten 4-2 away to the league leaders, Plymouth. It leaves Wade Elliot’s side in 18th place towards the bottom of the table, with just four points separating them from the bottom four.

Port Vale have lost three of their last four in the league, but like Cheltenham, have had a run against the best teams in the league. The Valiants were defeated 1-0 at home to Peterborough last Monday before losing 2-1 at home to Derby on Tuesday. Darrell Clarke’s men are 14th going into the weekend, seven points above their weekend opponents. Like many of those teams around them though, a big win could see them surge up the table.

Morecambe will be looking to continue their fight against the drop when they welcome a decent Bristol Rovers side to the Mazuma Stadium on Saturday.

The Shrimps were hammered 4-0 away to Ipswich on Tuesday, a result which ended their run of three consecutive wins in the league. It keeps Derek Adams’ side in the relegation zone, in 21st place, but a crucial win could be enough to see them escape the drop zone.

Bristol Rovers are 11th in table after two wins in their last three. Joey Barton’s men were beaten last time out, away to another relegation zone battler, Accrington in 22nd place. Morecambe’s last three league games have seen over 2.5 goals in the game, with the Shrimps scoring in each one. Saturday could be another high-scoring game against a Gas team that have had BTTS and over 2.5 goals in six of their last seven league games.

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