Exeter City vs Lincoln City Prediction: Imps can maintain promotion push

Exeter City’s request for this game to be postponed has been rejected by the EFL which means they will host Lincoln City at St James Park at 15:00 on Saturday. The Grecians are currently in 11th having won their last three games on the trot, while Lincoln are in the play-off places having enjoyed a strong start to the League 1 campaign. 

Below you wil find my Exeter City vs Lincoln City (12:30, Sky Sports Main Event) prediction featuring betting tips and team news.

Team News

Exeter aren’t particularly happy that this game is going ahead as I alluded to in the introduction to this piece. The reason being is that three of their players, Josh Magennis, Ilmari Niskanen and Kamari Doyle have received international call-ups and after the late promotion from the standby list of Kamari Doyle to the England Under-20 squad, the club did not give five clear days notice before the fixture date for the postponement to be verified. 

It means Gary Caldwell will have to battle on without those four, but expressed his frustration on the club’s website by saying: “It’s hard not to feel like we have been unfairly treated by the EFL and its call up protocol, and in particular the inconsistency between fixture cancellation and call up timings.”

Magennis and Niskanen both started in the 1-0 success over Charlton last time out so this does provide an opportunity for some of the fringe players to come into the XI. Demetri Mitchell could be given the nod on the wing while Jay Bird is the likely candidate to partner Millenic Alli, given he came off the bench last time out. Sonny Cox also provides another attacking option for Caldwell to consider. 

Jamie Pardington and Zane Okoro made their first competitive starts for Lincoln in midweek as they hammered Manchester City U21 5-0 in the EFL Trophy. Tendayi Darikwa captained the Imps for the first time and should start again, but Michael Skubala will try and revert back to the side that played the last league game.

Ethan Hamilton, Ben House and Jovon Makama should all feature in attacking areas as Lincoln try and establish themselves as promotion contenders this term. 

Exeter City vs Lincoln City Odds

Exeter City are priced at 7/5 to win this game, with Lincoln City available at 7/4. That gives the away side an implied win probability of 36%, while a draw can be backed at 21/10. Over 2.5 goals is 1/1 and BTTS is 8/11. 

Lincoln to win @ 7/4

This is a really tough game to predict but I will side with the away team on this occasion. I think Exeter’s desire to get this game postponed tells its own story and they are now without four first-team players. Skubala deserves massive credit for how the Imps have performed so far this term and they are now unbeaten in five games in all competitions, including gaining impressive wins over Stockport and Northampton. 

Their away form has been good this term and they’ve only lost once on the road, while Exeter have won four and lost two on home soil so far. This is a close-run thing, but I think the value lies in backing Lincoln to come away with all three points based on Exeter’s absentees. 

BTTS Yes @ 8/11

Lincoln boast the second-highest BTTS percentage in the third tier and 10 of their 14 league matches have ended with both teams on the scoresheet. Only Peterborough (73 per cent), can beat their BTTS success rate of 71 per cent.

Exeter are pretty fair down the list in comparison, but they have been good in goal of late, scoring in seven of their last eight outings in all competitions. They enjoyed a thrilling 5-3 win over Barnet in the FA Cup and we should see more goals at both ends in this one given the attacking mindset of both managers. 

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