Rochdale continued on the up by comprehensively brushing aside relegation scrappers Chesterfield on Boxing Day and, as a result, their promotion bid remains very much alive.
Having taking a while to come to boil this season, Rochdale have established themselves as one of the divisions top teams and, as they sit nicely in 4th place, they’re proving to be a tough nut to crack, especially on their own patch.
Shrewsbury, on the other hand, haven’t enjoyed the best of campaigns and, as we approach the mid-way point, they find themselves embroiled in a relegation battle down in 21st place. They may have improved their form slightly of late, but it’s very hard to fancy them here.
The hosts are looking so strong right now that they’re almost impossible to oppose ahead of this one. At odds of 8/5, the bet to go for is ‘Rochdale to Win & Over 2.5 Goals’. When playing at their home ground of Spotland Stadium, Rochdale have been very hard to beat, finding goals easy to come by.
The hosts record of nine wins, one draw and two losses on their own turf is the best in the entire division, while they’ve scored no less than 26 goals (joint-best in the league) and are looking good defensively having conceded just eight. In addition, at least three match goals have been scored in six of the hosts nine home victories, including in each of their last four.
Shrewsbury have desperately struggled to build any sort of form on the road this season. Having registered just two away wins, they’ve lost on seven occasions, scoring 11 and conceding no less than 21. ‘Over 2.5 Goals’ has landed in seven of their 12 away games, including in six of their seven defeats.
It’s pretty clear that Keith Hill’s Rochdale are the superior team here and they are fancied to show it on Friday. The Dale have played some top-draw attacking football in recent home matches, scoring 15 goals in their last five home matches. Such stats make the hosts hard to oppose and they can continue their progression by getting the better of a Shrewsbury side in high-scoring fashion.
See Friday’s League Two tip here.