Joe Townsend gives his verdict of who is best to pick for Last Man Standing, doubling up as acca tips and potential coupon busters to swerve.
It remains very early in the season but things are beginning to take shape in England's top four divisions.
Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea occupy three of the Premier League's top four places. In the Championship antepost favourites West Ham now sit second, Southampton would be level with them if not for their points deduction and Middlesbrough are sixth with a game in hand.
All of League One's top four were short in the pre-season betting, as were the top three in League Two.
There are of course some exceptions, both at the right and wrong end of things, and a month isn't nearly enough time to be sold on a team's prospects, so it pays to be circumspect where any shred of doubt remains. And there is always doubt.
What is Last Man Standing?
LIVERPOOL continue to look wide open and were it not for Ipswich's lack of quality in the final third there would have been further questions this week about their defensive vulnerabilities under Andoni Iraola, something Atletico Madrid exposed by going ahead at Anfield in midweek. Many will rush to back the Reds against Fulham but Alvaro Arbeloa's side have been better than their three straight defeats suggests.
The two sides flagged in the second tier have looked pretty good so far, swerving them is more about their opposition.
SOUTHAMPTON were poor last weekend, with Lincoln deservedly scoring a late equaliser. They did end Swansea's unbeaten start in midweek but now face Bristol City, another of the division's strong starters. MIDDLESBROUGH welcome a Norwich team who started slowly against a tough schedule but have shown signs of their promotion credentials by beating Birmingham, Sheffield United and Burnley across their last four.
Teams to hold on to
WEST HAM may have clicked into gear with three straight wins but fine-margin Wrexham will make things extremely difficult. Their W1 D4 L2 record in all competitions only tells half the story - they have an average xGD per game of +0.30 and are yet to concede more than one goal.
League One HUDDERSFIELD were denied a third straight home win by Notts County and now go to frighteningly unpredictable Mansfield, who have won both games at Field Mill including a 5-2 thrashing of Luton, but lost all three away including a 5-0 thrashing by Reading.
PLYMOUTH are another better kept in the back pocket. Argyle face a Barnsley team almost as Jekyll and Hyde as the Stags. As a Reds fan I had the "pleasure" of watching them look every bit a promotion contender at home to Stevenage for 35 minutes last week, playing scintillating football but failing to extend a 1-0 lead. The next half-hour saw them transform into relegation certainties, collapsing to ultimately lose 5-1.
A step lower unbeaten BARNET almost made the cut. They have drawn their last three and there is enough reason to give them a miss. Accrington's narrow win over fellow strugglers Crawley was just a second in 21 and first in 12 games. They've conceded at least twice in all those dozen but scored two in four of their last five. Barnet operate similarly, meaning this should entertain, but isn't one to stake your life on.
A meeting of two other promotion chasers is a complete avoid with YORK (ninth, eight points) and Swindon (second, 10 points) both making good starts to the campaign. The home side are far too short in the betting for what is a much more even match-up than the odds suggest.
Who should I pick in Last Man Standing this week?
I won't waste time on ARSENAL at Sunderland as it speaks for itself and they've probably been used already, something less likely to be the case with the side they beat on Sunday.
CHELSEA have impressed during a tricky start at local rivals Fulham, at home to Brighton and away to the champions before again showing their incredible attacking ability by roaring back to beat Leeds 6-3 in the Carabao Cup. Newly-promoted Hull have done phenomenally to take seven points and keep three clean sheets but this will be a huge step up.
If you're understandably edgy about getting against the unbeaten Tigers there are other less obvious options out there in the EFL.
It turns out new owners and a completely new squad can totally change a club's fortunes. SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY finished last term on zero points, only wiping off their -18 with a final-day victory over West Brom, the first of five wins from six league games for the now favourites to win League One. Wigan, meanwhile, have lost four of their five league games this season, including a 4-0 home thrashing by Stockport last weekend.
Sticking in the second tier BLACKPOOL's strong start hit a bump with successive away defeats but back at home - where they're W7 D2 across their last nine league games - they'll be confident of beating newly-promoted Bromley, who have lost three in a row and conceded 14 goals.
Finally Rochdale have found life back in the EFL very tough, losing four of five, conceding 10 and sitting bottom of the pile in terms of underlying data. WALSALL have made an encouraging start under new boss Lee Grant, remaining unbeaten (W2 D3) despite a tough fixture list.
Odds correct at 22:30 BST (09/09/26)
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