The League Two play-offs start with Wimbledon travelling to Nottingham to face Notts County on Saturday evening in what should be a great opener.
Below, you can find Ben's bets for Notts County vs. AFC Wimbledon in the League Two play-offs. The odds were correct at the time of writing.
At the time of writing this, the lineups were not available to us, so I have tried to make some assumptions about the lineup, whilst only tipping players I think will start. It is worth stating here that I would not advise placing any bets until the lineups are out for both teams.
Play-off games are so difficult to call, so there is still a higher level of risk with each selection. However, I've ran through the trends from the season and feel rather confident with our choices here.
So, without further ado, let's dive into my reasoning.
I really don't think there will be much between these two teams in either games, but I think this first game could be especially cagey.
During the season, this fixture finished 1-0 to Notts County, whilst Wimbledon won the reverse fixture by two goals to nil, showing that this is not a high-scoring fixture. For this reason alone, I think the 8/11 price is really quite generous, and I am definitely quite happy to take this one on.
In recent months, we have seen County move to a one-striker formation, rather than the two-striker outfit that they were previously in the season. So, more chances fall to the centralised number 9.
For this reason, I am quite interested in Alassana Jatta to have two attempts on target or more, and once again the price is quite nice here at just above 2/1. The Gambian forward has had the second most shots on target of any player in the division, whilst also scoring the second most, so he will definitely get opportunities to convert.
Sticking to this line, I cannot pick between the two teams right now. Neither ended the season with a rich vein of form, winning only three of their final 10 games in the league - something which is rather poor for play-off teams.
Only a point separated the two teams ranked fifth and sixth in the division, and so I think this will be more of a warm-up sort of tie, rather than being the headline game. For this reason, I think backing a draw is rather safe here.
At almost 3/1, it is certainly a very attractive price in my eyes.
This is probably the most difficult play-off game to call across the three divisions, I'd go as far as saying, simply due to the fact that neither team are coming into this game with great form. Of course, form goes a little out of the window with the play-offs, but we can still get a good grasp of things.
Notts County have been really hit and miss since the turn of the year, struggling to continue with their good form towards the latter end of 2024. However, they have still managed to squeeze into the play-offs.
Whilst it has been more recent, a lot of the same could be said for the Dons, who have trailed off in the past two months, only winning five games since the middle of February, which is a real worry.
The two games between the two this season have also offered very little - both teams won a game, Wimbledon by two goals to nil, whilst County won by a single goal.
I think the second game will be the real point of drama (I know, a really bold shout there), but we shall have to see, and hopefully Saturday's game offers us a little bit of a wow factor...
Predicted Notts County XI to face AFC Wimbledon (3-4-2-1): Bass; McDonald, Platt, Bedeau; Gordon, Hinchy, Palmer, Jones; Grant, Whitaker; Jatta
Predicted AFC Wimbledon XI to face Notts County (3-5-2): Eastwood; Rodgers, Tharme, Warren; McEachran; Svanporsson, Green, Khouri, Hume; Rose, Obikwu
Ben is an accredited football journalist who follows anything from League One to Serie A, also working for the likes of SempreMilan and Total Italian Football. As an avid punter, he has become the master tester at BettingLounge, refusing to take bookies by their words when it comes to withdrawal times and much more.