MK Dons go in search of a long-awaited first win of the season when hosting Reading on Saturday.
Many thought Paul Warne's side would be better suited to League One level after promotion from League Two last term, but have found things challenging so far, with six draws and one defeat from their opening seven games.
Reading meanwhile sit on the fringes of the play-offs after taking 12 points from their first eight games.
The Royals will be without Jack Marriott for Saturday's clash, and Gavin Horsfall and Mark Stinchcombe think Reading will struggle in his absence.
MK Dons v Reading Prediction & Tips
Best Bet: Under 2.5 goals @ 23/20
Gavin said "The big news is Jack Marriott out, but probably the more underrated news, I think if you talk to Reading fans, is George Earthy is out as well. What was the difference when those two were out? Well, they ducked under a goal xG for the first time in the 1-1 draw at home to Bradford last weekend. Look, Marriott obviously a big miss and he's out for the next month. George Earthy, like I said, arguably a bigger miss if you talk to Reading fans. He's out for the next month as well.
"I think it was easy to say that, oh, this is the end of this Reading run, Marriott's out and we should start to see them maybe regress. But actually, I think as time's gone on, I'm a believer in this Reading early season form because I think an underrated aspect of it is this defence. They're just not giving up much, and I think that here's a good opportunity for them against the side that don't tend to create, don't tend to make opposition keepers work the most.
"I was thinking about this three-week break, and what I realised is that work is hard, but I would rather be at work than spend a three-week break playing for a Paul Warne team. I wonder what they've been doing over the last three weeks; I imagine they've probably watched 40 hours of film and done shuttle runs for about seven hours a day.
"They've had six draws in their opening seven games, but the truth is this side just needs to create more. I have no doubt that would have been the focus after the break.
"Either way, a competitive game of football on Saturday against a team that's going well is a different kettle of fish. Look, MK Dons are a shot-heavy side, but they're in the bottom three for shots on target. When you look at the standard of the chances they create, they aren't matching the rest of the division; they're not making opposition goalkeepers work.
"I'm going to give this Reading defence a bit more credit than most, and I'm surprised to see the odds: under two and a half goals at 23/20 for me."
Mark said: "As soon as I saw that Reading were 5/4 favs away without Jack Marriott, I just thought I've got to oppose them. He's got 24 goals in 31 games since joining last summer—out of 81 goals scored by the team in that period, that's 30%. That's a huge miss and it lends itself to your unders approach.
"Are MK Dons winless, or are they unbeaten in six of seven? How are we framing it? I'm not really going to guess, to be honest; I'm just going to say that two of those games were against teams in the bottom 10, so they've had a decent fixture list in terms of the opposition's ability.
"Both Nick [Goff] and Steve [Freeth] are very keen on MK Dons' pre-season, and the main catalyst for that has got to be Paul Warne, hasn't it? What is it, four promotions out of this division? I had a look through his record in this league: 217 games, 1.81 points per match. If you look at managers with 50 or more games at this level, there are only eight managers in history with a better record, so I think he knows what he's doing.
"Reading are 5/4, but they've only won three of eight games, so without their main striker—who was obviously carrying the weight of the majority of their goals—I just couldn't be backing them at that price.
"I wrote this before they played the game against, I think it was, Brentford Under-21s, but Aaron Collins is joint second-top goalscorer in the division after Marriott, and he's warmed up for this game with a hat-trick in midweek.
"So, you've got Aaron Collins on fire and Jack Marriott on the injury list. For me, it's MK Dons +0.25 at 4/5, so we'll get paid out as long as they avoid defeat."
Alternative Bet: MK Dons +0.25 @ 4/5
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