We pick out the division's biggest underperformers and overachievers so far and select the teams who can impress in the New Year
At the top
Last season’s play-off semi-finalists Plymouth Argyle currently sit at the summit of League Two – but are still only third favourites at 9/2 to lift the trophy having seen their lead disappear in recent weeks with just one win in their last five matches.
Northampton Town are the team to have caught them up following an incredible run of seven successive victories, although it remains to be seen if Chris Wilder can maintain the challenge of a team who finished mid-table last season.
Oxford United currently occupy the final automatic promotion spot with Michael Appleton finally appearing to have found his feet in management, and at 5/2 are the current favourites to be crowned as champions in May.
Overachievers
As one of the pre-season favourites for relegation following four consecutive lower to mid-table finishes, Accrington Stanley have defied the odds to currently sit in sixth place, five points off the automatic spots with two games in hand.
Just below them are Bristol Rovers, who were only promoted via the Conference play-offs last summer. With seven wins from their 11 matches so far – the joint highest total in the division – they have taken no time at all to find their feet back in the Football League.
Both sides are 2/1 to be in League One next season.
Carlisle United, meanwhile, finished 20th last season but as the highest scorers in the league with an impressive tally of 42 have fought their way to fifth in the table and are 15/2 to be promoted.
However, no team in the top half has conceded as many, and with Brunton Park currently underwater thanks to Storm Desmond the consequential fixture congestion and extra travelling to neutral venues could well catch up with them.
Should they slip up then Mansfield Town – who finished in 21st position last time around – are just two points outside the play-offs and are 7/1 to earn promotion in a race featuring many surprise contenders who were expected to be struggling at the other end of the table.
Look out for
Pre-season favourites Portsmouth finally look to be making the most of the vastly superior budget that their enormous fan base for this level allows them under the stewardship of Paul Cook, who has achieved promotion at this level before with Chesterfield.
Having scored the second highest number of goals and conceded the joint fewest, they have the healthiest goal difference in the division – and with just two defeats all season are good value at 11/4 to close the three-point gap and take the title.
Wycombe Wanderers seem to have finally recovered from the after-effects of their dramatic play-off final defeat at Wembley last summer, where they lost on penalties after conceding an equaliser to Southend in the last minute of extra time.
Having lost just one of their last eight matches, the Chairboys now sit just two points outside the play-offs and are 5/1 to continue their recovery and go one better this time around.
At the other end of the table, an injury-ravaged pre-season meant that Stevenage won just two of their first 14 games in all competitions.
Yet with key players returning and having lost just two of 13 since then – against two of the current top three sides in the division – Teddy Sheringham’s men should now be able to pull well clear of danger.
Underperformers
Leyton Orient were the early pace-setters after winning their first five games, but have won just three matches since that run ended in August.
The O’s, however, are resilient if nothing else with just five defeats to their name and, with the division’s top scorer in Jay Simpson to call upon, are 9/4 to be promoted despite their current malaise.
Luton Town are some way off the play-off picture having narrowly missed out on a top-seven finish last time out and strengthened considerably in the summer, with John Still recently losing his job as a consequence.
The team they were promoted with from the Conference with in 2013/14, Cambridge United, have also endured an underwhelming season after recruiting heavily in the summer, but having improved in recent weeks with three wins and a draw in their last four are 9/1 to achieve a top-seven finish.
Notts County, meanwhile, are one point behind following their relegation from League One last season, but look unlikely to close that gap during the second half of the season having won back-to-back games just once so far.
At the bottom
Forty-two points were needed to avoid dropping out of the Football League last season – the lowest required total in the past six seasons – yet even that number still appears a worryingly long way off for the three teams currently marooned at the foot of the division.
Dagenham & Redbridge and Yeovil Town – who only came down from League One last season – are currently tied at the bottom on 13 points after 22 matches having won just two games each all season.
Both are odds-on at 8/15 and 4/7 respectively to be relegated at the end of the season.
York City, meanwhile, are not far ahead on 15 points having conceded more goals than any other side in the division at an average of more than two per game. They are 11/10 to slip into the bottom two by May.
Their woeful form means that the other sides in the lower reaches of table, whose meagre points totals would see them deep in trouble in any other season, can afford to breathe a little easier.
Hartlepool have, however, lost the same number of games as the three teams below them – including the last four in a row – and having needed a late dash to avoid relegation for the past two seasons are 5/1 to fail this season.
Newport County, meanwhile, have won just one home game under new manager Terry Butcher – a record they will need to address if they are to stay a safe distance away from the dreaded dotted line, with them 7/1 to slip back into non-league.
