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Our picks for the 2025/26 League Two season focuses on the teams vying for a place in the third tier in the upcoming campaign.
The 2025/26 League Two season got under way last weekend and the fourth tier of English football looks set to remain one of the most competitive and perhaps unpredictable competitions around.
League Two outright tips
MK Dons to win League Two @ 100/30
MK Dons may have struggled for much of last season, finishing a disappointing 19th, but with a promotion specialist in the dugout in Paul Warne, who has been backed by the club’s owners in the transfer market, they could easily prove the team to beat this term.
Warne, who has four promotions on his managerial CV from spells further up the pyramid at Rotherham and Derby, has made some eye-catching signings, not least forward Aaron Collins, an arrival from League One Bolton for a big-money fee.
Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and Callum Paterson are among the other notable additions at Stadium MK – the former knows Warne well from their time together at Derby – and if this team can gel, they have the quality to take the division by storm.
An opening-day goalless draw with newly-promoted Oldham underlined that the Dons are far from the finished product, but the season is a marathon not a sprint, and they could well end the campaign top of the pile.
Cambridge top-seven finish @ 9/4
After four seasons in League One, Cambridge were relegated last term, but they have the tools and experience to mount a serious challenge for an instant return to the third tier.
Neil Harris returned too late to save the U’s from the drop last season, but the former Millwall boss has a squad packed full of experience, with the summer arrivals of Dominic Ball, Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu and Louis Appere adding to what is already an impressive list of options.
Appere netted the winner on the opening day for Cambridge, who saw off Cheltenham 1-0, and that could be the blueprint for a successful season under Harris.
It may not be pretty to watch, but Cambridge have the know-how to grind out the results and, at the very least, finish in the play-off positions.
Crawley to be relegated @ 8/1
In each of the last two seasons a team relegated from League One has gone down again, with Forest Green slipping into the National League in 2024 and Carlisle following suit last term.
That pattern could repeat itself in 2025/26, with Crawley, who only went down by a point last term, looking vulnerable after a chaotic off-season.
Not only have the Red Devils lost a plethora of key players, notably Rushian Hepburn-Murphy, Panutche Camara and Will Swan, but there has also been a change in ownership after the previous co-owner resigned in protest over the club’s transfer dealings.
It remains to be seen what the new owners are all about, but things did not start well for Crawley, as they were comprehensively beaten 3-0 by Grimsby on the opening day.
It may get worse before it gets better for Scott Lindsey and his side, with Crawley perhaps looking destined for a season of struggle.
- SCCG Management. The Gambling Industry’s Global Connector. Access Here.
- Source: https://blog.betway.com/football/league-two-outright-tips-warnes-mk-the-team-to-beat/
