Exeter can continue their fine start….

Last week was unproductive and I admit I was very surprised by Crystal Palace’s failure at home to Swansea. Palace have started very poorly and the crowd let them know all about it. Sometimes it can take a new manager a while to get his ideas across and I imagine that is the way of it with Frank De Boer at Selhurst Park. I was wrong about the game but I would still back Palace to finish above Swansea, just as I would back a similarly struggling West Ham to finish above Leicester, who cannot afford to lose a player like Danny Drinkwater.

This is a quiet weekend and the only bet is EXETER to account for Newport in the early top-of-the-table affair in League Two. Paul Tisdale, who was liked and respected at Southampton without ever getting much of a look-in as a midfielder, is a very canny manager and has been with the Grecians for a long time.

They were always a hard team to beat at home – indeed, in Terry Cooper’s day they were almost invincible – and they were busy as the transfer window closed. Four players in and only one out, with striker Jayden Stockley breaking their limited bank to rejoin them permanently from Aberdeen, smacks of a manager and board with promotion in mind and Newport may taste defeat for the first time this season.

They themselves have started brightly for a team which so nearly exited stage left a few months ago. Their most significant signing is Padraig Amond, who unsurprisingly opted to leave a hapless Hartlepool United. Beware strikers who can score in every odd game, which Amond has managed in half of his 90 League Two appearances.

It should be a fascinating affair but City can make home advantage count and 13/10 is fair.

EXETER 25 units at 13/10 to beat Newport County