Last but not least of our trilogy of EFL Football League season previews is the 2017-2018 League Two season preview.
If none of the Championship or League One teams has tickled your fancy now in our other previews for National Adopt an English Football League Team Week, then surely you will find your team in the last of the three tiers of EFL.
Fourth tier doesn’t mean fourth best, in fact the quality of football seen in this division is of equal standard seen in the A League.
Not enough here? For an even bigger preview of the Championship and Football League 2017-2018 why not catch our full preview via the Fox Sports Academy.
Let’s hope the TV deal in Australia is sorted out soon, and remains on Foxtel in some form. We are not paying the EFL $188 for a season pass. Nor the $29 a month for Fox Sports without the EFL.
GF INDEX 2017-18 LEAGUE TWO PREDICTIONS
We could do our usual and tip the potential winners and losers from the 2017-2018 League Two season, but this season we’ve done something a little different.
We have taken various fields of data from last season and heading into the new season to determine the 2017-2018 League Two winners.
Using stats from last season like Overall Wins, Goal Difference, Away Goals Scored, Last 6 Form, Form after Xmas, Most Clean Sheets in a row, Points scored (divided by division e.g. Championship /2, League Two /4). Then we throw in Promotion and Relegation odds, Crowd % at home games, Squad Value, Manager Tenure. All specific data fields are ranked 1 – 24, and 24 points awarded for the best in each category and so on down to one for last. Then sorted by the totals.
Simples really. We don’t necessarily agree, but that’s what the data says.
| 1 | Luton |
| 2 | Exeter |
| 3 | Lincoln City |
| 4 | Wycombe |
| 5 | Forest Green Rovers |
| 6 | Colchester |
| 7 | Cambridge U |
| 8 | Mansfield |
| 9 | Carlisle |
| 10 | Accrington |
| 11 | Stevenage |
| 12 | Notts Co. |
| 13 | Grimsby |
| 14 | Barnet |
| 15 | Cheltenham |
| 16 | Crewe |
| 17 | Swindon |
| 19 | Coventry |
| 18 | Newport |
| 20 | Morecambe |
| 21 | Port Vale |
| 22 | Yeovil |
| 23 | Chesterfield |
| 24 | Crawley |
OUR SELECTIONS FOR THE 2017-2018 LEAGUE TWO SEASON
Despite coming up with the GF Index for the upcoming season, we’re also putting up our gut feeling with our tips for comparison. Who will get them right? probably neither, but here they are all the same.
CHAMPIONS: Luton Town
PROMOTED: Mansfield Town, Wycombe Wanderers, Notts County
RELEGATED: Newport County, Yeovil Town
TOP 5’s FOR THE 2017-2018 LEAGUE TWO SEASON
Everyone loves a short, sharp list, so here’s a pile of stats for the 2017-2018 League Two season.
5 START OF SEASON ODDS – WINNER
MANSFIELD – $6.00
LUTON – $9.00
COVENTRY – $9.00
LINCOLN – $11.00
SWINDON – $13.00
5 START OF SEASON ODDS – RELEGATION
MORECAMBE – $3.00
CRAWLEY – $4.50
YEOVIL – $4.50
BARNET – $8.00
CREWE – $9.00
Odds all correct at time from William Hill Australia. Click to see latest here.
1 PLAYER TO WATCH
Adebayo Akinfenwa – Wycombe Wanderers
5 LONGEST SERVING MANAGERS
Paul Tisdale – Exeter – 11.1 years
Jim Bentley – Morecambe – 6.2 years
Gareth Ainworth – Wycombe – 4.9 years
John Coleman – Accrington – 2.8 years
Keith Curle – Carlisle – 2.8 years
5 GREAT GROUND NAMES
THE NEW LAWN – Forest Green Rovers
THE HIVE – Barnet
SINCIL BANK – Lincoln City
FIELD MILL – Mansfield Town
GLOBE ARENA – Morecambe
5 GREAT NICKNAMES
RED IMPS – Lincoln City
STAGS – Mansfield Town
MARINERS – Grimsby Town
HATTERS – Luton Town
CHAIRBOYS – Wycombe
5 GREAT MASCOTS
Mr Bumble – Barnet FC
Jolly Green Giant – Yeovil Town
Marvin Moose – Cambridge United
Chester the Field Mouse – Chesterfield
Happy Harry – Luton Town
5 TOP % FULL OF HOME GAMES 2016-17
LUTON TOWN – 77.7%
CHESTERFIELD – 57.1 %
CAMBRIDGE – 52.5%
GRIMSBY TOWN – 52.4%
LINCOLN CITY – 50.9%
