EFL League 2 Predictions: Are the stars aligning for MK Dons?
The new football season gets underway this weekend and to help get you in the mood, we have collaborated with football analyst StatmanDave, who has delivered his EFL League 2 predictions.
Below you will find his 1-24 selections for the upcoming campaign.
League 2 Outright Odds
Here is Statman Dave's 1-24 in full. If you agree/disagree with him then you can find all the League 2 Odds available on Betfred.com and you can also message Dave on X to give him your predictions!
24th - Newport County
The way that Newport County finished last season is a real cause for concern. Over the last 12 games of 24/25, The Ironsides picked up just six points out of a possible 36, fewer than any other side in the division over that timeframe. It’s going to be a massive job for David Hughes to completely flip their end of season form and I’m really struggling to find a reason to believe that he’ll be able to pull it off.
Not only did Newport concede more goals than any other side in League 2 last time out, but their underlying numbers were abysmal. Expected goals suggests that they had the worst attack and the worst defence in the division last term - those sort of numbers always catch up with you in the end.
23rd - Harrogate Town
The Sulphurites have performed exceptionally well in the football league considering their modest budget. Simon Weaver has transformed the club, but this season may be one step too far. Harrogate scored just 43 goals in League 2 last season, with only Gillingham and Morecambe managing fewer.
Whereas defensively, they weren’t much better than Newport County. Only the Exiles, Carlisle United and Morecambe had worse expected goals against numbers than Harrogate Town. Not scoring enough and giving their opponents too many chances will send Town down.
22nd - Accrington Stanley
There’s still some work to be done in the market here, but I can see the Reds staying in the Football League. Their numbers from last season don’t inspire a lot of confidence but they’re a club who often utilise the loan market well and I can see that being true again this season. They drew 14 games in 24/25 and 11 of those draws came at home - pick up an extra bit of quality and youthful energy from the sides above them and they’ll quickly turn enough of those draws into wins to be safe.
21st - Tranmere Rovers
I can’t envision much of a change either way for Tranmere Rovers. Owner Mark Palios is making “every effort” to sell the club and going into the new campaign with so much uncertainty around the future of both players and the manager will more than likely stifle any potential progress. In the likes of Omari Patrick in particular they should have enough quality to stay afloat until the ownership situation is revolved, but it’s hard to see them aiming much higher than that.
Odds correct at time of publishing.
20th - Cheltenham Town
Things are looking promising in the longer-term for Cheltenham. Mike Garlick, who spent almost two decades at Burnley and oversaw two Premier League promotions as club chairman, is reportedly on the brink of completing his takeover. His plans for the club - significant budget increases and improvements across the facilities - sound promising but this season will come too soon for any of that. As long as they’re able to stay in the division (and they should), this season is something of a free hit.
19th - Oldham Athletic
A strong start will be absolutely vital for Oldham. They had tasted defeat just twice between the season getting underway and Christmas arriving last season. Although they’d have liked to have taken more wins from that run, they’d take a repeat this time around as they’ll be able to get out of the relegation conversations early and gain some real belief that they belong in the EFL. I can see them being resolute and attritional early on, which might just be enough.
18th - Bromley
Bromley will stay up because of one man, their talismanic forward Micheal Cheek. Cheek scored 25 and assisted seven goals in League 2 last season, the best return of his career in the division. They will continue with their direct style looking for their number nine whenever possible. Bromely finished last season in great form with only Doncaster picking up more points in the last six games. I expect them to continue that into the new season.
17th - Barrow
Despite losing Robbie Gotts to Doncaster, Barrow are a well drilled side, defensively sound and good from set pieces. Barrow scored more goals from corners than any other side in League 2 last season and only six sides conceded fewer goals. I think they’ll stay up with a bit to spare.
16th - Crewe
The Railwaymen ended the 24/25 season in awful form, winning just one of their last 12 games of the campaign. I don’t think that decline in form will be terminal, but it’s clearly a concern and could easily see them regress and drop a few places this time around.
15th - Cambridge
Neil Harris’ side will be awkward to play against and should accumulate enough points purely through that to avoid getting dragged into any sort of relegation talk, but their attack looks incredibly blunt on paper and they likely won’t have the firepower to finish much higher than 15th.
Odds correct at time of publishing.
14th - Crawley Town
If new recruit Danny Cashman can replicate the kind of numbers that he has put up in non-league in recent years, the Red Devils could well find themselves in a much higher position. That’s a big if, however, and a mid-table finish seems most likely.
13th - Shrewsbury Town
There are plenty of issues to deal with here at a club level, but there’s enough experience and relative quality for a steady campaign before rebuilding and looking to push on next season.
12th - Colchester United
Jack Payne has hit 18, 12 and 18 direct goal involvements in his last three campaigns at this level and should provide too much quality for his side to regress too much. However, they were still pretty blunt last season with just six sides - two of whom went down - scoring fewer goals.
11th - Swindon Town
Ian Holloway has bagged himself an absolute monster of a goalscorer - at non-league level at least - in Jake Tabor. He signed his first professional contract after bagging an absurd 127 goals in 91 appearances over the last two seasons. If he can produce a fraction of those numbers here, Swindon are in for another solid season.
10th - Gillingham
Defensively, Gillingham were brilliant last season, conceding only 46 goals in as many games, the third best record in the fourth tier. But they only scored 41 goals in 46 games last season with only Morecambe scoring fewer. The Gills have attempted to rectify this with Sam Vokes joining on a free transfer.
Gareth Ainsworth is a manager who loves a big target man. However, Vokes has only managed 12 goals in his last three campaigns, so it’s going to be hard, but not impossible for him to find his scoring boots once again. For that reason, Gillingham miss out on the play-offs for me.
9th - Fleetwood Town
I really like their signings, first bringing in the most creative full back in the league in Denver Hume who racked up the joint most assists in League 2 last season and then adding much needed goals signing Will Davies from Sutton United and James Norwood on a free transfer.
Davies is the interesting one, he scored 18 goals in the National League last term and we all know goals tend to translate from the National League to League 2. Fleetwood will be much improved from last season, but will just miss out on the play-offs.
Odds correct at time of publishing.
8th - Grimsby Town
Rounding off the teams missing out, Grimsby Town. The Mariners were very entertaining last season, they drew only eight games all season, the second-lowest number in the division. The contrast in wins and losses was stark. They won the same number of games as promoted Wimbledon, but lost one fewer game than 20th-placed Tranmere. For that reason alone, being the great entertainers, I have them high up the league just missing out on the play-offs.
7th - Barnet
Barnet are a very good football team. Dean Brennan initially joined the football club as head of football appointing Harry Kewell as head coach in 2021. After a poor start, Brennan had to sack the former Leeds and Liverpool winger and appoint himself as caretaker. The Bees haven't looked back. Two appearances in the play-offs and then automatic promotion.
Last season, they won over 100 points, led the league in goals for and had the lowest tally against. They had the best possession numbers and the best pressing numbers in the division. Callum Stead scored 19 goals, the most of any Barnet player. He looks like a top player; playing mainly from the left of the attack, he combines his short stature with excellent close control and agility to waltz his way past challenges and then he has the composure in the box.
Never rushed, he finishes very well. Another one to look out for is right wing back Idris Kanu. Only Reagan Linney attempted more dribbles than Idris Kanu in the National League last season. I am excited to see how he steps up in the Football League.
6th - Walsall
Walsall are the polar opposite of Barnet - they love to play direct. Despite having the ball 44% of the time, the third-lowest possession stats in the division, Walsall scored more goals than any other side. If they kept up their first half of the season form, they would have steamrolled League 2. On January 1st, after 22 games, The Saddlers had 49 points, 12 more than any other team in the league.
The second half of the season was a disaster winning only six of their remaining 24 games. They did lose Nathan Lowe halfway through January after he was recalled from his loan back to Stoke City. He had been directly involved in 22 goals in as many starts for the Saddlers. So that was a massive blow that derailed their season.
5th - Salford
Salford are the best pressing side in League 2, which is a claim backed up by the eye test and the numbers. Karl Robinson stumbled on a winning formula at the back end of the season: playing Ben Woodburn behind Jay Stockton and Kelly N’Mai in a 3-4-1-2.
Salford scored 19 goals in the last eight games with Stockton scoring six, N’my grabbing four goals and an assist and Woodburn pulling the strings and registering four assists. If Karl Robinson continues with this trio up front, Salford could even finish in the automatic spots.
4th - Bristol Rovers
Bristol Rovers have brought back club legend Darrel Clarke who in his last spell as manager got the Gas promoted from the National League to League 1. Rovers need to get back to winning games of football and Clarke will have to find the solution fast. There is some talent in his squad. Ruel Sotiriou showed glimpses of real quality last season in League 1, his goal against Rotherham a great example.
Starting in a left wing position, cutting inside before playing a 1-2 with Chris Martin, dancing into the box and calmly finishing. He has enough quality to score 15-plus goals from the left wing. Whereas, 18-year-old Kofi Shaw is one of the youngsters who could have a big break this season.
Odds correct at time of publishing.
3rd - Notts County
In third, I have gone with Notts County. Martin Paterson is a fascinating appointment. After hanging up his boots, he has spent a lot of time as a number two. He was Phil Neville’s assistant at Inter Miami and had three separate spells as Micheal Duff’s assistant at Barnsley, Swansea City and Huddersfield Town. Paterson had a brief stint at Burton Albion as a number one and picked up just five wins in 20 games in League 1, but kept Burton in the third tier.
Notts County are trying something new this season. They are going to use a “technical board” consisting of the owners, director of football, head coach and the head of performance to decide team selection, tactics, strategy and recruitment.
Back to the football, since Luke Williams’ time as manager Notts County have been one of the best footballing sides in the Football League and I expect this to continue under the new technical board. Notts County completed more passes than any other side in League 2 last season with Matthew Platt completing more than any other defender and Matt Palmer the most of any midfielder. This progressive style will continue. A big reason why I think they are going up automatically.
After one of the best seasons of David McGoldrick’s career, scoring 17 goals and picking up three assists, the former Notts County trainee has left for Barnsley in the division above. However, they have retained Alassana Jatta for another season who outscored and registered more assists than McGoldrick last term with 19 and four respectively. There was also movement in goal for County as Alex Bass joined Peterborough.
The replacement from Tristina Italy, football league veteran Kelle Roos. Over the last three seasons, Roos has registered a save percentage of 74% - elite level numbers. This should improve their defensive numbers from last season where they conceded 51 goals in 46 games.
Odds correct at time of publishing.
2nd - Chesterfield
Chesterfield are another top quality footballing side. Only Walsall scored more goals in the division last season than Paul Cook’s side. A big part of that was down to Armado Dobra. The former Ipswich Town graduate is one of the best attackers in the league.
Either playing from the left wing or at number 10, Dobra combines his low centre of gravity and agility with excellent ball manipulation to be one of the best dribblers in League 2. There is a real calmness to him in the penalty area which allows him to beat an additional man before finding the finish. He links well with the full back behind him creating three goals last season by releasing the full back into a crossing position.
Dobra scored 10 goals and registered three assists in League 2. He had the third most shots and touches in the penalty area as well as completing more progressive dribbles than any other player. Expect another big season from the former Albanian youth international.
But the real reason for Chesterfield finishing second is Will Grigg. For players to have scored over 10 goals in League 2 last season, only Nathan Lowe and Micheal Cheek were directly involved in goals more frequently than Will Grigg. The former Wigan centre forward scored or assisted a goal every 118 minutes in League 2.
Odds correct at time of publishing.
1st - MK Dons
Following the takeover from a Kuwait-based consortium. MK Dons have been on a spending spree and that continued over the summer signing Aaron Collins from League 1 Bolton for £750,000 a near record for the division.
Collins will guarantee goals for MK Dons, a side that struggled to put the ball in the back of the net last season with only six teams scoring fewer goals in League 2. Collins scored 12 goals and assisted a further four in League 1 last season. Expect him to reach similar goals scored numbers to Micheal Cheek’s return for Bromley in 2024/25.
You could describe him as the EFL's Ollie Watkins. A player that loves making perfectly-timed runs into the channels to finish off moves or create for teammates. Similar to Watkins’ underrated creativity, Collins has racked up 25 league assists over the last four campaigns. He is going to have a field day in the fourth tier and we could see similar numbers to his 22/23 season for Bristol Rovers in League Two, recording 16 goals and 11 assists.
So with Collins banging in the goals, MK Dons need someone to control the game, someone to create chances and someone to provide a goal scoring threat from midfield. Luckily they signed a player in January who can do all three. Dan Crowley is the best player in League 2 and could be playing in the Championship. He is a player when you watch him that has more time and space than any other player on the pitch.
The former Arsenal academy graduate controls games of football at this level. He completed the third-most passes per 90 in League 2 last season, but played the most smart passes in the division showcasing his quality in possession. So Dan ticks off the first point. Onto creativity, Crowley finished last season with nine assists and 10 assists in 2023/24.
Teammate Jodi Jones is the only player in League 2 with more assists in that period. Tick number two. And finally goals from midfield over the past two seasons, he’s scored 19 goals in League 2, more than any other midfielder. That’s a full house.
Head coach Paul Warne is overqualified for this role, if he can get a tune out of Collins and Crowley, he may win the league for the first time as a manager after three second-place finishes in League 1 with Rotherham United and more recently Derby County.
Odds correct at time of publishing.
You can read all our latest Football Betting Tips at our dedicated Betfred Insights content hub.
Share Article
New customers only. Deposit via Debit Card & place first bet £10+ (1/1+) on Sports in 7 days. £30 Sports & £20 Acca Free Bets within 10 hrs of settlement. 7-day expiry. Eligibility, payment excl. & T&Cs Apply.
Most Popular
Denmark vs DR Congo Prediction: Osula could be set for a memorable debut 3rd June 
Poland vs Nigeria Prediction: Super Eagles can find success in friendly 3rd June 
South Korea vs El Salvador Prediction: Son to shine in Sandy as… 3rd June 
Netherlands vs Algeria Prediction: Magic Malen can continue his… 3rd June 
Luxembourg vs Italy Prediction: The kids are alright as Bandini… 3rd June
