Crewe’s leaky defence could drag them back down to League Two

Crewe Alexandra are the archetypal yoyo club, having not spent more than three consecutive seasons at the same level since a five-year spell in the old Division One ended in 2002, and they’re already in danger of another shift in the wrong direction in the early throws of this campaign.

After hitting the heady heights of the Championship for two seasons in the mid-noughties under managerial legend Dario Gradi, Crewe eventually slipped back down to the fourth tier of English football.

Then, after a three-year stint in League Two, new boss Steve Davis steered them back to League One at the start of the last campaign, but now the Railwaymen’s price of 9/5 to be relegated looks a potentially profitable punt.

Despite a 2-0 win over Preston last time out, this result for Smith’s side has to be viewed as something of an anomaly in a campaign which has witnessed seven defeats from their first 11 games, where The Alex’s away form makes particularly galling reading for their fans.

Of their five previous away games before the trip to Deepdale, Crewe had been beaten to nil four times and drawn at Oldham 1-1.

They are combining the classic toxic combination of not scoring enough goals – 10 being the joint third fewest in the division – while the defence have 25, which is five more than any other club in League One at present.

However, there are plenty of other clubs making a pretty good case for the drop as well. The freshly relegated pairing of Sheffield United and Bristol City find themselves bottom and second bottom at present.

And, although both clubs are perhaps considered ‘too big’ to go down in some quarters, five and six points respectively don’t lie, making 6/1 and 8/1 very attractive prices also.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.

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