Cheltenham vs Stevenage Predictions

Things haven’t exactly gone swimmingly for Cheltenham of late, though they’ll fancy themselves to get the better of a Stevenage side that is struggling big time. The visitors go to Whaddon Road having failed to win any of their first six matches of the campaign.

It looked as though Cheltenham had done enough to grab a point at Broadfield Road last week, but they were unable to hold on as their hosts notched a last-minute winner. Despite losing, Cheltenham can be pleased that they pushed a high-scoring team all the way to the death.

After losing on the road, Michael Duff’s men will be happy to return home, where they’re yet to taste defeat this season having won two and drawn one. On their own patch, the Robins have been very effective going forward, scoring eight goals in four matches. Such a scoring rate may be hard to maintain, though at least an average of 1.63 expected goals for suggests that Saturday’s hosts have offered a threat going forward.

While Cheltenham have been scoring goals left, right and centre at home, Stevenage have found it very tough to score in general. Saturday’s visitors have notched just two goals in six matches, five of which they’ve failed to score in. Quite simply, unless his side start doing more in the final third, then it won’t be long until Dino Maamria finds himself out of a job, such is the cut-throat nature of the Football League.

Defensively, Stevenage haven’t exactly been pushovers, even on their travels. They succumbed to defeat on match-day one, losing by two goals to nil against Salford, though they’ve held both Leyton Orient and Mansfield on the road since then, drawing 0-0 on both occasions.

The fact that Stevenage kept a clean sheet away against Leyton Orient and Mansfield is pleasing, though they created little going forward in each of those games, while as they shipped expected goals figures of 1.8 and 2.47, it’s not as if they didn’t give scoring chances away.

Unsurprisingly, Cheltenham are warm favourites ahead of this match, though it’s not difficult to feel that they ought to be even shorter. Stevenage may have secured two pleasing draws on the road in recent weeks, but punter shouldn’t be fooled by such results. The visitors lack forward power and are backed to come unstuck against a Cheltenham side that has shown a great deal of final-third quality at home this term.

‘Correct Score’ players are pointed in the direction of a 3-1 win for the hosts. Despite offering next to nothing in three away games so far, Stevenage are bound to score on the road sooner or later, and they may well do so against a Cheltenham side that has kept just one clean sheet at home. However, the Robins’ previous efforts suggest that they can easily outscore their weak visitors, who’ve given lots away on their travels.