Football Bet of the Day: Wells backed on EFL’s opening night

After months of waiting, the EFL returns on Friday night as League 1 begins in earnest. Luton Town host AFC Wimbledon at Kenilworth Road (20:00, Sky Sports Main Event), as the Hatters look to put two seasons of pain behind them and rebuild. 

This fixture takes our focus for Friday’s Football Bet of the Day as we look to secure a big winner. 

Luton Town are the outright favourites to win the League 1 title this year, and with good reason. They are coming down off the back of a double relegation, and usually that could mean a club in turmoil, but things don’t feel like that around Kenilworth Road.

They are now a second-year parachute payment team, playing in the third tier of English football, which is a bit baffling on paper and they should be able to make it count on the pitch. If you’ve read some of my League 1 previews, you’ll know that I am incredibly bullish on Luton to win League 1 despite some of their player losses including Alfie Doughty, Carlton Morris and Thelo Aasgaard. 

Luton Town vs AFC Wimbledon Odds

Matt Bloomfield remains at the helm and he is an important factor, having almost saved the Hatters from relegation last term. Only Burnley and Leeds United accumulated more Championship points over the last 12 games of the season than Luton, and they were only relegated due to the flying form of some of the other strugglers. 

They shouldn’t have too much trouble navigating their way out of League 1 and at this early stage, I think they have enough to win the league by 10+ points. It means I’m going to back them to beat AFC Wimbledon quite handsomely, and I think the value lies in backing a goalscorer. 

Wimbledon did extremely well to win the League 2 play-offs last season and their defence carried them all the way up as they didn’t concede a goal in the semi-final or final. However, this step up is going to be tough for them to deal with and I’d expect that defence to be breached more frequently in the third tier. 

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Their first match is as tough as they come and you’d have to expect Luton to pepper their goal for 90 minutes. Crystal Palace loanee Owen Goodman has now departed and his wonderful performances in goal were a big reason why the Wombles got promoted - so I’m not sure they will be quite as frugal this term. 

All of this brings me to the Football Bet of the Day, which is to back Nahki Wells to find the net against Wimbledon at any time. Wells scored 10 goals in the Championship in 41 appearances for Bristol City last term, and although he is 35, proved he still has what it takes to compete in the second tier. I’d expect him to be Luton’s chief goalscorer this campaign and he is so reliable in front of goal I believe he is also in with a shout of winning the Golden Boot. 

He’s fairly resolute and the amount of games he played last season showed that he is not injury-prone, while Bloomfield is looking for a slightly different forward to find the net after Morris failed to deliver last term, with Elijah Adebayo still out injured. He’s a decent price that is worth backing, as we look to kick our EFL season off with a winner.

Offers

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