PREVIEW | Notts County vs AFC Wimbledon - team news, lineups, predictions | OneFootball

Notts County and AFC Wimbledon face each other this Saturday at Meadow Lane for the first leg of the two sides' high-stakes EFL League Two semi-final.

Notts finished in sixth, one place behind their visitors this weekend, in the League Two table - just a point separating them after 46 games of the regular L2 season. The Magpies were beaten 1-2 by champions Doncaster Rovers on the final matchweek, while AFC Wimbledon recorded a  0-1 win over Grimsby Town to snuff out the Mariners' own play-off ambitions.

Home advantage has been decisive in this season's previous fixtures between the two sides: Notts County beating the Londoners 1-0 at Meadow Lane, and Wimbledon avenging that defeat with a 2-0 win back in March.   History appears to favour the Dons, who have won every game they have played against the Magpies aside from the aforementioned 1-0 reverse last October.

The Fan Zone

K-Ci Rennicks : Another play-off campaign at Meadow Lane, our sixth in our past eight seasons, but this one feels quite significant to the others as it is our opportunity to return back to Sky Bet League One for the first time since 2015.

A season where we have been impacted by some very key injuries to key players throughout, such as Alassana Jatta's concussion at the beginning, David McGoldrick ruled out at various stages and Jodi Jones missing for the majority of the campaign. Not to mention our number of "contact injuries" which seem to occur whenever we have a big game, which is why - though Nick Tsaroulla, Lucas Ness and Scott Robertson are the only notable absentees - you honestly never know what is going to come up on match-day.

However, weirdly I am confident. That feels strange due to the fact that we have only won one of our six meetings with the play-off teams this season, yet the one and only came over our opponents AFC Wimbledon in which we won 1-0, which may explain my score prediction...

Do we have the quality? Undoubtedly.

Do we have the big game know-how? That does leave me with doubts.

Yet, the play-offs is a big shootout to me. It does not matter about any results elsewhere, nor any league tables. What truly matters is outscoring your opponent across two legs and outscoring your eventual opponent in the final. Sounds simple, sometimes football can be, but it certainly will not be simple as that is not the Notts County way to do things.

It is BIG and I believe that we can be the eventual winners of the Sky Bet League Two play-offs, but it has to begin with belief which sometimes I feel we have lacked at times this season.

A packed-out Meadow Lane knows how to make a lot of noise however, and properly get behind the team and I know this Saturday will be no different.

So...

COYP!!

Prediction: 1-0

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Prediction: 0-0

Unavailable

Notts County

AFC Wimbledon

Last starting XIs

Notts County ( vs Doncaster Rovers 2025-05-03): Alex Bass, Rod McDonald, Matthew Platt, Jacob Bedeau, Kellan Gordon, Matt Palmer, George Abbott, Jodi Jones, Conor Grant, Alassana Jatta, Charlie Whitaker

AFC Wimbledon ( vs Grimsby Town 2025-05-03): Owen Goodman, Ryan Johnson, Riley Harbottle, Joe Lewis, Sam Hutchinson, James Tilley, Marcus Browne, Jake Reeves, Alistair Smith, Josh Neufville, Matty Stevens

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