Stockport are challenging for promotion into the Championship, but whilst it may seem as though that could be a negative because of the emphasis that will inevitably be placed on the league campaign, this competition has a rich history of those towards the top of League One being successful. Peterborough last year, Bolton, Rotherham, and Sunderland, in the last 3 years before that were all winners of the EFL Trophy despite being promotion contenders out of League One.

With that knowledge in our minds, there is no reason why Stockport won’t go for this. It is a winnable tie against a good, but not great, League Two side, and considering the way that Stockport have played in this competition there is every chance that they can knock in a good number of goals.

The Hatters won both of their first two EFL Trophy matches 4-1, so there was nothing at all riding on their last match which was a 0-1 defeat. The financial support and recruitment that Stockport have behind them has meant that they have a strong, competitive and deep squad, so when they inevitably rotate for this competition they still have a very strong XI on the pitch.

Bradford had their first two matches in this competition go over 2.5 goals as well, so they are a team that is well able to contribute to this bet.

Walsall qualified top of their group, above Birmingham, and are also buoyed by their top of the table win over Port Vale at the weekend in League Two.

Under Ruben Selles, Reading would heavily rotate within the rules and regulations of the competition for the EFL Trophy, it will be interesting to see if Noel Hunt continues that trend. Of course, we are very much aware of how many good young players Reading possess as a result of their excellent academy, so this does not necessarily mean that they will be particularly weak for this match either way.

Walsall have genuine goal threats, and play in a system which accentuates those strikers. Whether both Nathan Lowe and Jamille Matt play in this match is yet to be seen, but there are strong forwards in reserve as well with Danny Johnson ready to contribute if required. They scored in all 3 of the group games, including a 3-0 win over Shrewsbury last time.

Reading knocked 3 past West Ham U21 and Newport County on their way to this stage of the competition. Harvey Knibbs scored twice in the Newport victory that sealed qualification for Reading, and with Jayden Wareham also scoring in 2 of the matches, there are a couple of players at least who will be very threatening to Walsall.

Another top League One team here, but this time taking on a bottom end League Two team.

There is every incentive here for Wycombe to continue to build on their good form. The Chairboys certainly won’t want to break their scoring streak, it has been 22 games in a row now that Matt Bloomfield’s men have found the net.

Their EFL Trophy matches have seen over 2.5 goals in 2 out of 3, one of which was a 5-3 victory over Brighton U21. The likes of Bez Lubala, Brandon Hanlan, Kieran Sadlier, and Luke Leahy, have scored in this tournament so far, all of whom are of a particularly strong standard for this competition.

Ian Holloway is unlikely to be prioritising this competition, given the position that Swindon are in at the moment, and is more likely to use it to rotate and look at some of the players that he hasn’t yet seen much of in competitive action since he became Swindon boss.

Even so, it is relevant to note that all 3 of Swindon’s group games in this competition went over 2.5 goals, so that is a decent form line to bring into this match as well.

Birmingham are a club who have an exceptionally strong squad, especially for EFL Trophy standards. By nature of the competition, the majority of the teams do rotate their squad, especially in the earlier stages of the competition.

Birmingham are no different in that regard, but their rotations aren’t as impactful on their quality as other clubs. In this competition they did only draw with Walsall, but since then they have scored 4 against Shrewsbury and put 7 past the Fulham U21s.

Over half of Birmingham’s away matches have gone over 2.5 goals, including 3 of their last 4 away matches in all competitions.

Exeter themselves have been in the top half for almost all of the season, however, their form isn’t particularly good right now. However, their EFL Trophy record is very interesting, they won their group with 3 wins, scoring 2, 2, and 3 goals in the matches against Swindon, Tottenham U21, and Bristol Rovers.

This match was played in the league only 2 weeks ago and went 0-2 to Birmingham, but this will see different XIs and different levels of motivation.