Fleetwood Town vs Bradford Predictions

Fleetwood may have walked away from the King Power Stadium with nothing to show for their efforts on Tuesday night, but they’re doing well in the league, so the confidence of Joey Barton’s men won’t be dented too much. Now back on their own patch, the Cod Army will be looking to resume winning ways.

Aside from losing to Leicester during the week, Fleetwood have done well of late. After a tame start on match-day one, the Trawlermen have ticked along nicely. Their 0-0 draw away at Charlton last time out wasn’t quite the 5-0 win that went before, though you can’t always find the net, while a second clean sheet is a positive.

On paper it looks as though Fleetwood have done an excellent job in the final third, and while they’ve shown good end-product, they’ve not been as creative as their ‘goals for’ column would suggest. At the other end of the pitch, Barton’s men have looked useful, especially in recent weeks. All round, if they can continue to perform as they have done, then it could be a good season ahead for the Cod Army.

After beating Burton on match-day four, Bradford would’ve been hoping to put together a winning run, though their upturn in fortunes was short-lived. It was back to losing ways for the Bantams last weekend, as they lost at home to Wycombe. They did offer something going forward on that occasion, though they were once again poor defensively.

In truth, aside from an encouraging opening-day performance, Bradford have been poor this season. They’ve given far too much away at the back, while they’re not doing enough offensively, which is somewhat surprising considering the forward personnel recruited over the summer.

As things stand, Bradford sit bottom in terms of expected goals for, while only four teams sit below them in the expected goals against table. What’s more, the Bantams rank inside the bottom eight in terms of both shots conceded and shots on target conceded. In truth, they’ll need to do better at Highbury Stadium on Saturday if they’re to get a result.

From a betting point of view, against a Bradford side that has continued to adopt a reasonably open approach, Fleetwood, even though they’ve not been the most creative side, have a good opportunity to regain the scoring thread. Backing the hosts, who’ve scored at least twice in three of their League One matches this season, to bag a couple of goals against Bradford’s inept back-line looks a good bet.