Rochdale vs Sunderland Predictions

Considering they finished last season in an unremarkable 16th place in League One, Rochdale are looking very good at the moment. The Dale played out a stalemate at Shrewsbury on Saturday to extend their unbeaten start to the season, making it 4 competitive games without a loss.

Last Tuesday saw them demolish Bolton 5-2 in the Carabao Cup, and in the league they beat Tranmere Rovers and drew with Doncaster before their weekend stalemate. It’s only been enough to take them to 9th in the table, but Rochdale fans will be very pleased with their displays so far.

Rochdale’s most impressive improvements have come up front, where they have scored 9 goals in 4 competitive games and failed to score just once. Defensively they still have a lot of work to do though, which is unsurprising considering they finished last term with the worst defensive record in the entire division.

Sunderland came agonisingly close to promotion back to the Championship last season, going so far as to lead the Playoff Final 1-0 for the majority of the first half. A Charlton equaliser eventually came though, and a 90th minute winner forThe Addicks condemned them to another season in the third tier.

The Black Cats have started the new campaign in similar fashion to Charlton, drawing their opening 2 matches before a midweek League Cup win last week and a 2-1 victory over Portsmouth on Saturday.

Again, just like Rochdale, Sunderland have been fairly impressive going forward but have struggled at the other end of the pitch. They have scored 7 goals in their 4 competitive matches but are yet to keep a clean sheet, so we’re expecting an entertaining match on Tuesday evening.

Both teams have scored in 7 of their combined 8 matches this season, and with last season taken into account as well we’re expecting this trend to continue. Rochdale have kept just 3 clean sheets in their last 14 home league matches, but have scored themselves in 10 of these games.

Sunderland, meanwhile, found the net in all but 2 of their League One away days last season but only managed 8 clean sheets, so backing Both Teams to Score looks a solid option here. The Black Cats have lost 3 of their last 5 matches away from the Stadium of Light though, and with Rochdale winning 3 of their last 5 home matches we think a 2-1 win for the hosts is on the cards.