2024-25 League One season prediction: Betting tips for top-two finish, relegation and top goalscorer

2024-25 League One best bets

Huddersfield to finish in the top two
1pt 10-3 bet365, BoyleSports

Crawley to be relegated
2pts 5-6 general

Will Evans top goalscorer
0.5pt each-way 16-1 bet365

2024-25 League One top-two finish predictions

Birmingham’s big summer spending spree is paying dividends as they bid to make an immediate return to the Championship and, having lost only two of their opening 22 games, they are 1-4 to convert their strong start into a title triumph.

Despite their cramped title odds, Birmingham sit only second in League One, trailing surprise packages Wycombe on goal difference, although Chris Davies’s side do have an all-important game in hand.

Having been 25-1 to claim top spot before a ball was kicked, the Chairboys are now 11-2 and they have lost only one of their last 21 league matches.

However, it is hard to see them living with Birmingham given the resources available to them and the Blues have a League One cheat code in £15 million summer signing Jay Stansfield, who has 15 goals in 22 appearances this season.

The famously-owned Wrexham are third, within two points of top. They’ve played two more games than Birmingham and three of their four league defeats this season have come against top-seven rivals.

Stockport are starting to feel the pace, having won only two of their last seven, while off-field problems should at some point get the better of Reading and Barnsley, who blow too hot and cold.

That leaves Huddersfield, who may pose Birmingham’s biggest challenge and they look like a big price to secure promotion by finishing in the top two.

The Terriers sit fourth, seven points back, but they have a match or two in hand of most teams and are gathering a head of steam.

Huddersfield were relegated from the Championship last season but in Michael Duff they have a supremely talented manager capable of bouncing them back.

The Yorkshire side find themselves unbeaten in 13 and that could be the ideal preparation for a tough January and February, when they face four of the top six. But if they come through that relatively unscathed, their promotion credentials should become much clearer.

League One relegation predictions

The League One relegation battle looks as if there are six teams fighting for only two survival spots and Crawley potentially represent the value to go down.

Burton, Cambridge and Shrewsbury are the trio in greatest danger but they are all priced accordingly at 2-5 or shorter to go down, whereas Crawley are 5-6 and have won only two of their last 20 league matches.

The Red Devils won back-to-back league games over Rotherham and Charlton a month ago but they have since taken only one point from four games and conceded 12 goals in that sticky spell.

Rob Elliot’s side remain in the relegation places and six of their next eight games come against top-nine outfits, suggesting that they could soon find themselves in a position of greater insecurity.

Northampton and Bristol Rovers are the other two teams in the relegation shake-up but the Cobblers are going through the midst of an injury crisis and can improve, while the Gas have had some tricky recent fixtures with a much easier schedule on the horizon.

League One top goalscorer predictions

Current top scorer Louie Barry has been recalled from Stockport by parent club Aston Villa in order to test him at a higher level, so Birmingham hotshot Stansfield is odds-on to take the prize in what could be a title-winning season.

The 22-year-old looks difficult to beat, with highly-promising Wycombe youngster Richard Kone his nearest pursuer in the betting having also netted 12 league goals this term.

However, with two places still on offer, there may be each-way value to be had from Mansfield’s Will Evans, who has nine goals in 22 league appearances from a total of 50 efforts, so he is racking up plenty of chances.

Welshman Evans secured a move to Field Mill after impressing at Newport last season, scoring 21 goals in 45 matches, and he has taken the leap up from League Two in his stride.

More EFL season predictions . . .

Dan Childs's best bets for the rest of the 2024-25 Championship season

Aaron Ashley's best bets for the rest of the 2024-25 League Two season

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