This is likely to be a tight encounter between two sides who could not be separated in their most recent league encounter, a 1-1 draw. 

Walsall had the best attack in League Two last season, but AFC Wimbledon had comfortably the best defence, and we often think it’s the more ‘solid’ of the two sides that prevail in these kinds of games.

AFC Wimbledon have a really strong record against their fellow top 10 sides in 2025. From 11 games (including the play-offs), they have won or drawn 10 of them, only losing at home to League Two runners-up Port Vale.

George Hall has been a ‘late arrival’ into Walsall’s promotion push. Despite joining the club on loan from Birmingham in the summer, he made just four starts before the last week in March due to injury issues. 

His minutes have increased since then, and he looks a real livewire from an attacking midfield position, making runs in behind opposition defences.

From his nine starts, he has made one or more fouls on six occasions.

Having racked up over 400 EFL appearances, you would struggle to find a striker more synonymous with a League Two promotion challenge than Jamille Matt, having played at this level with Fleetwood, Newport, Forest Green and now Walsall.

He spearheads Walsall’s attack, battling for long balls and trying to bring team-mates into play before peeling off into the box to try and score.

That grappling with defenders results in plenty of fouls awarded against Matt. He has committed two or more fouls in 27 of 40 league starts, including in both legs of the play-off semi-final and in both league games against AFC Wimbledon.

We think a draw is the most likely outcome in this game, with so much on the line for both teams.

Both Wimbledon and Walsall play in a similar style, both pretty direct in terms of progression of the ball, and with no risks taken trying to play out from the back, so we could see a bit of a stalemate, with the emphasis on not giving anything away.

The most recent meeting of the sides was a draw, and it seems likely that these two may cancel each other out.

We see a low-scoring encounter between these two sides, with AFC Wimbledon in particular experts at keeping goals to a minimum, at both ends of the pitch. Nine of their last 10 games would have covered this bet, the outlier a 2-1 defeat at Swindon, which was only the case because of a 94th-minute red card for a Dons player resulting in a 95th-minute penalty goal.

We don’t see Walsall possessing the kind of attacking threat which would cause this to turn into a one-sided or open kind of game.

James Tilley will likely continue at right wing back, a role he has played towards the end of the campaign and in the play-off semi-final. It’s a position that suits his attacking game, allowing him to cut inside from the right onto his favoured foot and shoot from range, as well as deliver inswinging crosses to the back post.

He has shown some petulance in his defensive work, though, not afraid to chop an opponent down if they look like getting the better of him. He covered this bet in both legs of the semi-final and in a game against this opponent in the regular season.

Ryan Stirk is likely to start at the base of midfield for Walsall alongside Alfie Chang. He will feel he has a point to prove at Wembley, having been an unused substitute for Mansfield in the League Two play-off final three years ago.

The Welsh midfielder has covered this bet very rarely this season, only seven times from 45 starts, but one of those came in the play-off semi-finals first leg, and the other game in the first regular season game between these two sides.

The price is the most attractive thing here, 5/1 for a central midfielder to commit two fouls in the biggest game of the season just has to be taken.