Rochdale vs Luton Town Predictions

Consistency continues to be something that eludes Rochdale, but they once again bounced back last weekend, as they beat Charlton by a goal to nil at home. For once, Keith Hill’s men kept a clean sheet, so they’ll be feeling confident ahead of this match against a very good Luton side.

Time and time again, it’s been said that Rochdale are capable of doing good things in League One, and that’s hard to argue, though they continue to be blighted by major inconsistency. Keith Hill’s men are a decent footballing side, they try and play an attacking game, while in Ian Henderson, who has ten league goals this season, they have a real goal-scorer in their ranks. Yet after 16 games, they’re only 14^th in the table. It could be worse, but it could also be a lot better.

Last weekend saw Rochdale keep a clean sheet, which will have pleased manager Hill, though the gaffer will once again have been concerned with the fact that his side gave chances away. No matter how they approach the game, Dale cannot seem to avoid giving plenty away. Even on their own patch, Rochdale have conceded a worrying 16 goals, while they’re conceding an average of 1.64 expected goals. Such a stat suggests that they’ve perhaps been unlucky to concede so many at Spotland, but it also highlights the simple fact that they’ve been far too open.

Given Rochdale’s defensive issues, a thriving Luton side will surely fancy this. Nathan Jones’ visitors come into this fixture in fine form, as they’ve won each of their last three matches, while they continue to make light work of scoring goals. The Hatters have scored at least twice in each of their last six league games. Impressive.

Even when plying their trade away from the comforts of home, Jones’ men have hurt teams on a regular basis. They punished both Wimbledon and Doncaster recently, while they also became the first team to score two goals against Barnsley at Oakwell. A repeat of any of those attacking efforts would likely see the visitors cause a leaky Rochdale rear-guard all manner of problems.

Luton’s scoring rate will inevitably slow at some point, but it’s very tough to see them not hurting Rochdale on Saturday. With the hosts giving so much away, coupled with the fact that Luton have done an excellent job of both creating and scoring goals, as their average of 1.74 expected goals and the fact that they’ve scored two in each of their last three away games suggests, then ‘Luton to Score Over 1.5 Goals’ is hard to avoid at the prices.