Leyton Orient vs Stevenage - prediction, team news, lineups

Separated by two points in the League One table after six games of the 2026-27 season, Leyton Orient and Stevenage will square off at the BetWright Stadium on Saturday.

The visitors have climbed to ninth spot with consecutive victories, while their hosts sit 15th after three straight defeats in all competitions.

Leyton Orient will go in search of a return to winning ways in League One on Saturday, on the back of a mixed start to their season.

After six games of their fourth straight season in England's third tier and fourth full term under the management of Richie Wellens, they sit on seven points, having managed two victories and suffered three defeats.

That is despite an eye-catching attacking record, even after seeing their squad badly hit over the summer, with only two sides topping their tally of 12 goals at this stage.

The O's have struggled since the most recent of their wins, a 5-0 thrashing of Bromley, and a creditable draw away at Luton Town, going on to lose 3-1 to Bradford City in the EFL Cup and 3-2 at home to Wycombe Wanderers in League One last weekend, having levelled at 1-1 through an own goal, pulled back to 3-2 in the second half through Jaze Kabia and failed to find another equaliser.

Now on the back of a midweek EFL Trophy defeat to Arsenal Under-21s, in which they led in the first half through Nicholas Oyekunle, Leyton Orient will hope to end their three-match losing run and begin a climb up the League One table with a home win, having lost all three of their third-tier matches at Brisbane Road so far this term while conceding eight of their nine goals on home turf.

Their visitors arrive in contrasting form, with their sights set on extending a winning run to three games and an unbeaten streak to five in League One.

Aiming to build on a memorable campaign last time around in which they finished sixth and lost in the Championship playoff finals in just their second year back in the third tier, Stevenage currently sit ninth at this early stage having taken nine points from their first six matches.

Alex Revell's side did make a winless start, in the form of three draws and a loss, but the last two draws have since formed the start of an unbeaten streak.

The Boro managed a first league win at the fifth time of asking in style away at Barnsley last week, dishing out a 5-1 beating having trailed 1-0 with Oliver Sanderson, Terence Vancooten and Michael Mellon on the scoresheet alongside Dan Kemp's brace, before Kemp again scored as they beat Luton Town 2-1 last weekend with Josh Magennis also finding the net before their visitors pulled one back.

With confidence growing around the group on the back of two victories to kickstart their league campaign, Stevenage will now bid to extend that hot streak and crash the top six.

Leyton Orient are still without striker Aaron Connolly, who is yet to feature this season through injury, with defender Rarmani Edmonds-Green and midfielder Ollie O'Neill also sidelined.

Wellens rotated heavily for the midweek EFL Trophy game and will revert to a similar starting XI from last weekend's narrow loss to Wycombe, with Jaze Kabia, who has scored five goals since his summer arrival, bound to come back in up top.

He will be joined up top by Tottenham Hotspur loanee Yusuf Akhamrich and either Armando Dobra or Dane Scarlett, while Alex Gilbert will hope to earn a first league start following his switch from Middlesbrough in place of either Isaac Hayden or Idris El Mizouni in midfield.

Stevenage face injury issues of their own, with Terry Taylor and Phoenix Patterson having missed out on their win over Luton, while Jasper Pattenden is also sidelined.

Revell may field an unchanged side from that 2-1 victory, with Josh Magennis bound to again lead the attack with support from Dan Kemp, after both got on the scoresheet in that game.

The Boro were hit by departures over the summer, notably goalkeeper Filip Marschall and key defender Charlie Goode, and they have been replaced by Tommy Setford and Terence Vancooten respectively with the latter becoming a mainstay alongside veteran centre-back Carl Piergianni.

Baxter; Stevens, Olowu, Forrester; Wellens, El Mizouni, Gilbert, Clare; Akhamrich, Kabia, Dobra

Setford; James-Wildin, Vancooten, Piergianni, Freestone; Phillips, Thompson; Sanderson, Kemp, Roberts; Magennis

Stevenage arrive in fine form to take on a Leyton Orient team who have lost their last three games, but the hosts do boast more quality than that suggests and continue to grow into the season after a major summer overhaul.

We fancy the hosts to come away from a tight contest with a point.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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