MK Dons go into their away fixture at Cambridge United looking to achieve a feat they have not done so since 2014/15 – win three games in a row. Victories over Port Vale and Cheltenham Town have propelled the Dons back into the upper echelons of League Two following a barren run in which they did not win for five games. The U’s sit in the league’s relegation zone going into the game so this is a perfect opportunity for Paul Tisdale’s side to get some momentum going at last.
MK Dons Hunt For Third Successive Win as They Face Cambridge United
It All Comes Down to Form
As this is the first ever competitive meeting between the two sides, there is no history to go on when looking to predict a winner for this match. So, form is all there is to go on, and current form suggests that this should be a win for the visitors.
They have looked comfortable in their last two victories, a 2-0 win at Vale Park and a 3-0 success at home to Cheltenham, and it helps when you have a player as in-form as Chuks Aneke appears to be at the moment. The striker has scored in the last three league games for the Dons, taking his tally for the season to four, the same as strike-partner Kieran Agard.
Cambridge haven’t had such luck in their campaign so far. They haven’t won since 1st September, a 1-0 away victory at Stevenage, and have since been on a run of conceding 18 goals in seven games, three goals of which came in a Checkatrade Trophy game. In that same time, they have only managed six goals themselves.
Easy win then, right? Nothing is easy when it comes to MK Dons, but their improvement, Cambridge’s demise and the fact that they are set to be backed by their largest away following for quite some time (over 900 tickets have been snapped up already with a further 500 available on the day), they’re not going to get many better opportunities to stamp their authority on this league.
Key Men
Cambridge United
The biggest threat to the Dons’ backline looks as though it will be the hosts’ top scorer, Adebayo Azeez. Azeez, formerly of AFC Wimbledon, has three goals to his name so far and also has had 82% of his shots on target this season (14 on target out of 17 shots). While this might suggest poor finishing having only had a return of three goals, it also shows that he is capable of getting away from defenders in order to be able to get shots off.
MK Dons
It would be easy to find justification to have Chuks Aneke as the key man every week, but it’s not often that a player has so many milestones piling up for one game.
The forward is currently on 149 career starts, 49 MK Dons starts and 49 career goals. A start and a goal tomorrow would see all of those stats nicely tick over together, and there’s no reason why they shouldn’t. After a turbulent summer, Aneke seems to have settled down and is starting games while Agard and Rhys Healey are rotated. After scoring in his last three as well, he shouldn’t have much of a problem netting against a team that leak goals as much as Cambridge do.
Career starts – 1️⃣4️⃣9️⃣#MKDons starts – 4️⃣9️⃣
Career goals – 4️⃣9️⃣Striker @Chuks_Aneke is closing in on three milestones!
That and other #CAMvMKD storylines here ? https://t.co/bItn0NgFpm pic.twitter.com/C8HFjVk7gQ
— MK Dons (@MKDonsFC) 11 October 2018
Prediction
While you can never be sure what sort of performance you’re going to see from MK Dons, it looks as though Paul Tisdale has finally got them settled and playing how he wants them to play. Granted, there have only been two successive wins so far and this is nothing to get carried away with, but the dominance shown in those two games has been a refreshing change from the usual nail-biting anxiety you experience at a Dons game.
Tomorrow shouldn’t be a hard task for the Dons – the only thing they have going against them is the experience of a new ground and a team they have not played before, as well as the general away-day disadvantage. They will be backed by an enormous away crowd, though, and this, as well as their superiority over the opposition, should see them over the line comfortably.
Prediction: Cambridge United 1-3 MK Dons
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