Newly Promoted Notts County travel to Gander Green Lane on Saturday to face Sutton United. The visitors are the favourites despite only just taking the step up to League Two and they will be wanting to continue last season’s brilliant form.
Sutton United
Last season, Sutton United finished in 14th place which is rather disappointing considering they finished just one point below the play-offs the season prior. The main cause for their downfall was their below average away form, however they still remained solid when playing at Gander Green Lane. In fact, when at home they accumulated almost double the amount of points as they did when on the road. Putting the ball in the back of the net was The Us biggest downfall as they only scored 1.13 goals per game at home.
Pre-season started well for Matt Gray and his squad, with two successive victories. Yet, in the next four friendlies they conceded seven and only scored once which once again reflects back to last season’s Achilles heel. The Us have reinforced the attacking options but we are yet to see a change in fortune.
Notts County
Notts County had an unbelievable season last year and they were extremely unlucky to not finish in first place. The Magpies registered 107 points in the National League and only lost three games all season. Macauley Langstaff should take a large amount of credit for his performances last season and he ended the campaign with an extremely impressive 42 goals in 47 appearances. The Magpies are an attacking side that love to create, hence the fact that they were also the top scorers last season.
Notts County have had a rather inconsistent pre-season, with some solid performances yet a handful of poor results. A positive for the Magpies will be that new signing David McGoldrick was able to get some minutes and score some goals, which I am sure we will see plenty of in the upcoming season.
Verdict?
With Sutton struggling in front of goal and their recent pre-season form, I expect Notts County to collect all three points on Saturday. The strike force of Notts County should prove to be just too much for the Sutton backline.
