Football Accumulator Tips: Saturday 13/1 FavFour for the opening EFL Fixtures

Swansea vs Birmingham – Swansea

The first leg of our opening FavFour for the 2023/24 campaign comes from the Championship, where Swansea City face Birmingham City.

The Swans finished seven places above the Blues last season, but following Russell Martin’s departure for Southampton, former Barnsley boss Michael Duff will take charge of his first competitive fixture in charge after his former side’s narrow defeat in the League One play-off final to Sheffield Wednesday.

Duff’s new side beat relegated Reading 4-0 last weekend as preparation for the upcoming game against Birmingham.

As for Birmingham, whilst they did win this fixture last season and haven’t lost to the Swans since 2020, they had a poor end to last season, losing all of their last three games in 2022/23.

The Blues recently saw Tom Brady, seven-time Super Bowl player, become a minority owner at St Andrew’s on Thursday and could start a return to the top flight, after 12 years away from the Premier League.

Both sides started last season off in poor form, winning just one game each before the end of August, finding themselves in 21st and 22nd respectively.

With all that in mind, we think it’ll be the home side who win this one. Swansea are on a nine game unbeaten run from the end of last season, whilst Birmingham won just one of their last seven games from last season.

Northampton vs Stevenage – Northampton

The second leg of our FavFour comes from League One between two of the automatically promoted sides from League Two last season in Northampton and Stevenage.

The Cobblers were only second to Stevenage in terms of form from the last six games of last season and earned promotion on the final day. They are unbeaten against Stevenage in their last 11 matches between the two sides in all competitions dating back to 2015.

Both sides will want to establish themselves in the new division, and a game against somewhat familiar opposition, having played them last season, might be a welcome start to life in League One.

We do think Northampton will get the better of the two sides on this occasion, extending that good run of form the Cobblers have over Steve Evans’ side.

Wrexham vs MK Dons – Wrexham

It’s a relegated side away to a promoted side as MK Dons travel to Wrexham in League Two.

It is impossible to miss the hype around Phil Parkinson’s side, as they hit 111 points and sealed promotion to League Two whilst also reaching the fourth round of the FA Cup, eventually going out to Sheffield United.

Paul Mullin will be out of action after suffering a punctured lung which might affect Wrexham’s ability upfront, but they’re still expected to be a threat. They spent their pre-season in the US, where their overseas audience has emerged from since the success of their documentary on Netflix.

MK, on the other hand, were relegated to League Two, where they’ll look to bounce back and get back above AFC Wimbledon, who they have a stern rivalry with. They have not featured in the fourth tier since 2019.

We think the Wrexham bandwagon will continue, and they’ll kick off life to League Two with a win.

Sutton United vs Notts County – Notts County

We finish our FavFour with the other side coming up from the National League in Notts County away at Sutton United.

Notts County acquired the signing of David McGoldrick, a big coup for them, and he is expected to score a hatful of goals for them after dropping down from League One Derby County.

They finished on 107 points in the 5th tier, four behind Wrexham, and are expected to do well in League Two.

Sutton finished in mid-table, but didn’t win in their last 11 games in League Two and face a tough start to the 2023/24 season.

We expect the away side to take all three points to start their latest stay in the Football League.