Stockport County To Win:
Stockport come into this season in excellent shape. The Hatters finished 3rd in the league last season, scoring the second-most goals and conceding the third-fewest. The Greater Manchester club have done some fine business in the summer, signing Finnish international centre-back Arttu Hoskonen on top of highly regarded forwards Malik Mothersille and Nathan Lowe. Stockport have lost only one of their last 17 home games in League One, winning 14 of those, and did the double over Bolton last season, winning 1-0 away from home and 5-0 at Edgeley Park towards the end of the campaign.
Both Teams To Score:
All of Stockport's last seven games in the league have seen BTTS occur, while four of Bolton's last five league fixtures have seen goals at both ends. Additionally, five of the last eight head-to-head meetings between these two sides have seen BTTS occur.
Malik Mothersille To Score:
New signing Malik Mothersille had a strong campaign for Peterborough United last season, finishing as the club's top scorer in the league with 12 goals, while also contributing nine assists. Mothersille took more shots (67) and recorded more shots on target (40) than any Peterborough player last season, and he's set to play a central role in this Stockport team this season, a side that will be far more dominant than the Posh were last season, who were quite poor on the whole.
John McAtee To Have 1+ Shots On Target:
John McAtee scored 11 goals for Bolton last season, making him the team's second-top scorer in the league. The forward also registered 24 shots on target in an average of 31 full 90 minutes completed, meaning he's a consistently accurate shooter.
Josh Sheehan To Be Carded:
Midfielder Josh Sheehan received eight bookings in an average of 28 full 90 minutes completed last season, meaning his cards per minute rate was higher than any player still at the club this season. Sheehan also committed 27 fouls last season, which shows consistency in that department. The Welsh midfielder also picked up 10 bookings in the 2023-24 campaign, so last season's high booking rate was far from an anomaly.