MK Dons vs Salford City: Big Bet Preview

Credit: Altaf Shah / Shutterstock.com

Milton Keynes dons vs Salford City
(Sat 15 Nov, 3:00pm UK - Sky Sports+)

It’s international break time once again! But while the Premier League and Championship take a breather, the battle at both ends of the table in England’s third and fourth tiers is still raging. This week, the Big Bet takes us to the fight for automatic promotion from League Two as 4th place Salford make the trip down to MK Dons in 5th.

Click here to download Tipple and start playing

We’re a third of the way through the League Two season now, and things are seriously hotting up. Two of the division’s wiliest gaffers in Paul Warne and Karl Robinson are going head-to-head this weekend for a chance to jump into the automatic promotion places. Both teams have been patchy this season, but their outstanding quality has carried them through. Nobody is running away with it, so they’re only 3 and 4 points from the top of the table respectively. However, they are also the same distance from Fleetwood down in 13th. Such is the anyone-can-beat-anyone nature of League Two this year, it’s been a fantastic advert for the lower leagues thus far.

A win this weekend would do either side the world of good and give their promotion push some real credentials. A loss, on the other hand, could see their rivals for promotion begin to open up a more sizeable gap that’ll be much harder to surmount.

It’s all to play for in the Big Bet once again!

Form

Both sides played in the EFL Trophy in midweek to mixed results. MK played a side comprised mostly of reserve players and children and promptly got pumped 4-0 at home to fellow promotion-hopefuls Swindon, whereas Salford fielded a similarly rotated and youthful XI and handily turned over Wolves U21s 4-2. You’ve seen how bad the players in Wolves’ first team have been, so it’s no wonder.

In the league, Paul Warne’s side had been struggling to make the financial disparity between themselves and the rest of the league apparent on the pitch until recently, but form has now started to turn in the Dons’ favour. They have managed three wins, a loss and a draw in their last five, in that order, scoring thirteen goals in the process. They certainly know where the net is, if they can learn where theirs is and start protecting it a bit then a side of this quality and depth could go on an unstoppable run into the back half of the season. For now, however, they can still definitely be got at and there are weaknesses for Salford to exploit.

Speaking of the visitors, finding the net has proven to be a difficultly as of late. In their defence, the fixture list has been unkind to them recently and they have still managed to pick up crucial points, but they have scored just three times in their last five league games; winning twice, losing twice and drawing their most recent fixture at home to Cambridge. Seven points from some tricky games isn’t a disaster, but they have to start hitting the back of the net more often as they’re already nine goals behind MK Dons in the league.

Both teams have been unpredictable recently, can the Dons’ prolific attack be the difference maker or will Salford hold strong and pick up a vital win on the road?

Head-to-head

Nothing much to go on here, I’m afraid!

With Salford’s wealth-driven rise from perpetual non-league football to EFL infamy being a fairly recent occurrence, they have yet to build up a lengthy history of playing against some of the teams that have been football league stalwarts over the years. The case of MK Dons’ controversial history also lends itself to having very little to analyse when it comes to historical clashes, but I’ll do my best.

They have faced each other on a grand total of four occasions, home and away in the league for the last two seasons. In 2023/24, MK Dons won both ties 4-2 and 3-1 respectively. Last season, Salford emerged 1-0 winners from both games too. So yeah. Played 4, won 2, drawn 0, lost 2. Make of that what you will!

This season’s MK side are much stronger than the disaster they served up last year thanks to serious financial backing in the summer and the appointment of promotion specialist Paul Warne, so the results from last campaign aren’t worth pondering on too much either.

As far as the managers are concerned, Paul Warne and Karl Robinson have met on five occasions. Two wins each and a draw. There really is nothing to split these two sides. Trust me, I’m trying.

Key Battle

Jack Sanders vs Daniel Udoh

I mentioned that Salford have found goals harder to come by than most of the other sides at the top, but when they are getting them it’s usually something to do with Daniel Udoh. The forward has managed four goals and four assists in nine league games for his new club so far, directly scoring or assisting 61% of Salford’s goals when he is in the team. If they’re going to break down a tough MK Dons backline, they’ll struggle to do it without the help of Daniel Udoh.

Jack Sanders has been a revelation at Stadium MK since joining from St Johnstone in the latest January transfer window. He had a shaky start to his Dons career but since the start of this season he has been imperious at the back for Paul Warne’s side. He ranks in the 99th percentile for both aerial duels won and defensive contributions amongst his peers at centre-half at this level, it will take a serious performance from the Salford attack to get through Sanders.

A forward with the ability to score and create goals against a no-nonsense defender that won’t be beaten easily. It’s tasty, it’s League Two.

Preview

It’s a tight one to call this week, as usual, and either team are capable of edging a victory on their day.

Karl Robinson spent six years in charge at MK Dons and will always be keen to get his own back against his former side. Since leaving he has faced them on 16 occasions, winning 7 and losing 5, can his Salford team extend his winning record against his former side?

Paul Warne seems to have his side finally clicking in recent weeks, certainly more than they were at the start of the campaign. I’ve spent more time than anyone should have to watching a Warne side, and this just feels like the sort of game his teams would win. A huge game in the promotion fight at home is his bread and butter, and he always seems to know how to get the best out of his teams on the big occasions. That being said, Salford will provide a stern test and whoever comes out on top come full-time will have their promotion hopes and dreams buoyed by success against strong opposition.

A massive tie in the League Two promotion fight in the international week Big Bet - the fans of whoever comes out on top might dare to dream about away days in Barnsley and Wigan next season.

This is what it’s all about, who are you going for?

Tipple Difficulty Rating: 8.5/10