Both teams are already out, and they have performed poorly in this competition, but Leeds have been particularly poor.

They have lost 1-4 at Port Vale, and then 0-4 at Fleetwood, and despite being the defending National League Cup champions, they have also suffered some poor defeats in that competition, too, losing 0-4 at Boston United and 0-3 at Halifax. Leeds U21 haven’t won in five matches in all competitions, and they are having a middling season in PL2 as well.

My main concern for them here is that, with them already being out of the competition, they will go extra young in their lineup, giving chances to some of their U18 players, perhaps.

Accrington are also out of course, but the record of the senior league teams over the U21 teams is obviously very strong, as we have seen above, and human nature tells me that they are not going to want to lose to a young Academy team, regardless of any other kind of stakes.

Whilst Accrington are one of the poorest senior sides in the competition in terms of league position, they have recently drawn against Tranmere and Chesterfield, and beaten Gainsborough in the opening round of the FA Cup.

There is a head-to-head match in this competition from 2020 as well, which obviously has no bearing on the players that are in these teams now, but is perhaps worth referring to, a 7-0 win for Accrington.

Goals are on the agenda in this clash. This Southern group is by far the most evenly poised, with all four teams going into their final fixtures with a won one, lost one record, and everyone having equal goal difference.

It all comes down to the final set of fixtures, and so far, we have seen Arsenal U21 see BTTS and Over 2.5 goals land in both of their matches. They opened with a 2-1 win at Newport, before losing a seven-goal thriller in Exeter. Cardiff have very much had the opposite record with two 1-0s, a loss to Newport, and a win over Exeter, but the circumstances and the record of the U21 teams, including Arsenal, lead me to believe that the goals will come here.

Whilst the competition is not at the top of Cardiff’s priority list for the season, we have talked before about how often the top League One sides win or at least get to the final stages of the EFL Trophy. This is valuable experience for the young Arsenal team as well, and no doubt they will be striving to qualify.

I can see this being a ding-dong battle with both sides trying to fight back if and when they go behind.

This Fulham U21 side is a bit of an enigma. They are having a fabulous PL2 season, currently sitting in third in the big Swiss-style league table, unbeaten after eight matches, winning five and drawing three in that setting alongside the other U21 teams.

However, against senior teams, they have been unable to replicate that level of form. They have lost both of their EFL Trophy matches, so they are already out of this competition, and they have lost two out of three in the NL Cup, although their win was a thumping 7-0 win at Sutton United.

They lost 1-4 at Gillingham and 1-3 at Wycombe in this competition, so BTTS and Over 2.5 goals obviously landed in both of their previous EFL Trophy matches.

There is nothing riding on this for Colchester either. They have won both of their previous fixtures in this competition, and both came by the same scoreline, 2-1, which obviously fits the criteria for this bet as well.

The fact that there is nothing riding on the game for either team does put me off backing Colchester for the win, but there should still be goals.