The second strangest season ever (last season stranger, at least for now) continues today in English football’s lower leagues. Some pilot trials are running with up to a thousand fans at a match in a number of places where the local area situation permits.
But what’s going to happen?
In League One, a lot of tight matches in prospect, but then this is the start of the season. The raw statistics don’t always reflects the changes that have taken place over a usual summer, let alone this Covid-19 summer. Portsmouth look fancied at Rochdale, certainly by the bookmakers, but a little less by our model.
In League Two, will Bolton continue their troubled start? They travel to Colchester. Two of the weakest starters, Carlisle and Southend, meet in the North. Both defences have looked all at sea, without any goals scored. What will happen when they meet?