Leicester City U23 v Walsall FC Betting Tips

This EFL Trophy match sees the youth team of Premier League champions Leicester City take on the first team of League One side Walsall.

Leicester U23s suffered a terrible start to the season and lost four matches on the spin, conceding 12 goals in the process. However, they are unbeaten in their last five matches and have come out victorious from their latest two against Tottenham Hotspur and Reading. All in all this puts them 10th in the table, just one point above the relegation zone.

The EFL Trophy has been a different story for the young Foxes as they have visited first team Football League opposition and come away with victory – firstly beating Sheffield United on penalties before defeating League Two play-off chasers Grimsby Town 1-0.

In their match against Sheffield United, Leicester fielded a few experienced players and, in fact, the entire back four and goalkeeper have all had a large amount of first team experience in their careers with four of the five aged 27 or above. Hardly giving the youth team a chance is it?

The situation was different for Grimsby and in fact it was only goalkeeper Ben Hamer and defender Yohan Benalouane who you would say are first team players. Still, not exactly giving young players the opportunity.

Going up against Walsall, particularly given the fact it is an international break, I would expect the Leicester U23 squad to contain a number of first team players, allowing them to have competitive game time whilst their colleagues are away and there is a break in the fixtures. A ridiculous system that will hopefully be fixed next season.

Walsall, like the Leicester youth team, had a pretty atrocious start to the season with just two wins in their first 10 league matches. However, former caretaker boss Jon Whitney has turned the Saddlers’ fortunes around with the club now undefeated in their last five League One matches, winning three.

Unfortunately, the club had a stutter to their good form at the weekend by losing in the FA Cup to non-league Macclesfield at the Banks’s Stadium.

The Saddlers do have good recent history in this competition and made their first ever Wembley appearance in the final of this competition back in the 2014/15 season, but unfortunately lost the final 2-0 to Bristol City.

There is no doubt that Walsall will want to make another good impact on the EFL Trophy this season and an opportunity against one of the weaker youth teams in Leicester is a good opportunity to do so.

Interestingly, Walsall were one of numerous Football League clubs to accept the one-season trial of U23 teams in the competition. However, Chief Executive Stefan Gamble says that the club now regrets that decision and that “the competition we have now is not what we voted for”. Additionally, just 1,000 fans turned up to watch Walsall’s match against Grimsby in their first group match.

This has been a disaster for the Football League clubs.

Another interesting factor regarding Walsall is their young team. Whilst this competition has been designed to improve young English players, Walsall have already shown down the years that it is possible to expose young players to first team football without reformatting tournaments.

In recent years we have seen the likes of Rico Henry and Romaine Sawyers – two of the country’s brightest young players – come through the Saddlers’ system.

Despite losing players of their calibre, Walsall have gone about their business the same way as demonstrated by the fact the average age of the squad is a mere 24 – probably less than Leicester’s U23 team!

In regards to this match, Jon Whitney is not the type of boss to put out a weak team for a competition, as shown in the FA Cup tie at the weekend, and I expect him to field his strongest side for this clash against Leicester U23s.

Overall I expect a Walsall win given their recent form in a really competitive environment. Interesting the bookmakers have actually made Leicester U23s the favourites – but I am not sure why as the form book certainly points to the Saddlers.

The price on a Walsall win is a more-than doubling 85/40 – a price which is irresistible.

There’s also likely to be a few goals in this match. Walsall are excellent going forward, but can be pretty susceptible at the back, while this young Leicester side will certainly do plenty of attacking, leaving spaces in behind too. At a nice price of 9/4, ‘Over 3.5 Goals’ is worth going for.

See more tips here.