Bradford vs Wycombe Prediction: Goals expected at Valley Parade

League 1 returns this weekend and Bradford City have finally made it back up to the third tier. The Bantams spent six seasons in League 2, but secured promotion in injury time on the final day in the most dramatic of circumstances.

Their first test sees them host Wycombe Wanderers at Valley Parade (15:00, Sky Sports+), and below you can find my Bradford vs Wycombe Predictions featuring team news and betting tips.

Football Odds

Team News

Influential Bradford striker Andy Cook did his ACL in January and although he is getting closer to a return, he won’t be available for the first few games of the season along with Lewis Richards. 

Max Power and Stephen Humphrys - two former Wigan players have now rocked up at Valley Parade and they both could start this opener. Alex Pattison have done well in pre-season and should start having bagged seven goals from midfield last term, while Bobby Pointon ended the season in good form and could star again.

Josh Scowen suffered an ACL injury for Wycombe in May and is out for the rest of the year while Garath McCleary is still a couple of weeks away from a return. Richard Kone is once again going to play a key role for Mike Dodds’ team as he leads the line while new arrival Junior Quitirna is generating some excitement. 

Jamie Mullins has joined from Brighton’s U21s and could be a smart signing in midfield while Mikki van Sas is a young goalkeeper who will try and claim the number one spot this term. 

Bradford vs Wycombe Odds

Bradford are priced at 6/4 to win this opener, giving them an implied win probability of 40%, while Wycombe are 2/1 to get the three points. A draw can be backed at 11/5, while over 2.5 goals is 11/10.

BTTS is 5/6 while Kone is the favourite to open the scoring at 5/1, having scored 18 goals in 43 last term for the Chairboys. 

BTTS and draw @ 16/5

It’s always hard trying to predict the first game of a new season. We have relatively little data to go on, no form as such and we can only guess what the starting XIs would be. Having said that, I think this game is most likely to finish in a draw. 

Bradford will be playing in front of a raucous crowd and will want to land a blow early on in this League 1 campaign. They have always had strong support and now they can begin to fight their way back up the leagues. 

Today's Football Fixtures

Wycombe lost in the play-offs last year having led the division in 2024/25 under Matt Bloomfield before he headed off to Luton Town. They will come up against their former boss this year, but Dodds doesn’t fill me with a huge amount of confidence in terms of mounting a promotion charge. Still, this is a squad that should be able to compete for a top-six spot again, and I’ll back them to find the net and get a draw on the opening weekend. 

Richard Kone to score anytime @ 9/5

Kone proved himself to be one of the finest strikers in League 1 last term and although he has been linked with a move away all summer - for now he remains at Adams Park. Dodds will want him to find the form he had at the first part of last season, as he scored just twice in the last 16 Wycombe games - although he did miss five games through injury during that run. 

I think a break will have helped him out and he’s still only 21. A strong start to the new campaign could inspire a Championship club to pull the trigger and put in a big offer for him - so I’m expecting him to hit the ground running with a goal against Bradford. 

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