Tom Lee's EFL Double For Saturday

Tom Lee's Panel Tips For Saturday, January 11

• Tom Lee's Panel Tip 1: Walsall To Beat Tranmere - 4/7 With William Hill
• Tom Lee's Panel Tip 2: AFC Wimbledon To Beat Cheltenham - 4/5 With William Hill

Walsall Vs Tranmere, Saturday, 12.30pm

League Two player of the month for December, with 17 league goals to date, nobody can suggest striker Nathan Lowe's loan spell at Walsall has been anything other than a huge success.

So much so, parent club Stoke City recalled the 19-year-old for a day's training this week, new Potters boss Mark Robins heaping praise on the youngster when telling the press: "He’s a young player and young players have to be given time. 

"In time he will be a really good player and what he’s doing at the moment is giving himself every chance. 

"He’s put himself in the shop window and made people sit up and take notice of him.

“He will end up with 20+ goals this season if he remains at Walsall – we haven’t made that decision yet – and I also know it is doing him the world of good.

Mat Sadler is desperate to keep him and I’m not in the market to upset people – but what matters to me is Stoke City and the individual."

Stick or twist if you will, the Stoke boss hovering over a decision which could have a massive impact on the League Two title fight.

However, what we do know for sure is that Lowe is in the Walsall squad for Saturday's early game at home to struggling Tranmere Rovers (12.30pm).  

Ten points clear with a game in hand over the sides in second and third, Sadler's team have been doing so well in the fourth tier.

His employers even had to rebuff an approach from Plymouth this week in connection with their vacant managerial role. 

This home fixture is precisely the sort Walsall have been mopping up for fun, and at 8/13 on football betting sites for what would be a 17th league victory in just 24 games, they look well worth sticking in the double. 

A run of seven wins on the bounce has them brimming with confidence, and although you can argue that sequence has to come to an end at some point, do goal shy Tranmere really have the quality to upset the Saddlers?

The Birkenhead outfit do at least come into this on a winning note, having scratched their way to an ugly 1-0 win at home to bottom team Carlisle last time out.

Cameron Norman's 23rd minute goal masking just 41% possession and losing the shot count 19-13, but their overall figures don't provide much in the way of chutzpah. 

Ironically, one of just 17 league goals came when they somehow beat Walsall 1-0 at their Prenton Park home back in August, but concerningly they've managed only 16 in 20 since then.

Tom Lee's Panel Tip 1: Walsall To Beat Tranmere - 4/7 With William Hill

AFC Wimbledon Vs Cheltenham, Saturday 3pm

With the current cold snap claiming more than a few victims on the weekend fixture list, especially games due to be played in the north of the country, it's down south we go for the second leg.

AFC Wimbledon haven't always been bullet proof when suggested in this space in the last five months, but at 5/6 on betting apps they look appealing on home soil against inconsistent Cheltenham. 

Fifth in the table with a game in hand, the Dons are poised to pounce and reel in sides such as Crewe (away to Swindon), Salford (in FA Cup action) and Port Vale (postponed), the trio who currently sit above them in the race to be second best behind Walsall.  

A win here would mean a season double over Cheltenham, following a 1-0 away victory back in August.

They're in good form too, winning their last two to make it seven points from nine since Boxing Day. 

Down in 13th position, in the same time frame Cheltenham have been a little bit of everything, drawing 0-0 with a then out-of-sorts  Port Vale, letting in five at home to Newport, but beating an able Crewe outfit 2-1 having trailed. 

If Wimbledon turn up they really ought to profit from three valuable points.

Tom Lee's Panel Tip 2: AFC Wimbledon To Beat Cheltenham - 5/6 With William Hill

Tom's double on Walsall and AFC Wimbledon to win (weather permitting) pays just under 2/1 with William Hill