Rochdale vs Tottenham Hotspur Preview

February 16, 2018
By: Deke Hardman

Sunday afternoon’s sole FA Cup fixture comes from the Crown Oil Arena where League One strugglers Rochdale take on Champions League chasing Tottenham Hotspur.

The Dale knocked out Championship side Millwall via a replay in the fourth round having already got past Bromley, Slough Town and Doncaster Rovers.

This is the third time the club have reached this stage of the competition though they have never made the last eight, though they could be forgiven for making the league their main focus.

They sit bottom of the third tier, eleven points from safety though they do have as many as five games in hand over the sides immediately above them.

Manager Keith Hill will be without cup-tied quartet Scott Wiseman, Alex Dobre, Billy Knott and Sam Hart and long term absentees Niall Canavan and Keith Keane.

Top scorer Ian Henderson is 19.0 (18/1) to open the scoring with Sky Bet with Calvin Andrew a 21.0 (20/1) chance with a variety of firms.

The home win is as highly priced as the 21.0 (20/1) on offer from some bookmakers with the hosts favorites at 1.16 (3/19) with Unibet. The draw can be backed at 8.0 (7/1).

Mauricio Pochettino’s side also needed a replay to get through last round, eventually beating Newport County while they knocked AFC Wimbledon out earlier in the competition.

They currently sit fifth in the Premier League and go in to the game having secured an impressive 2-2 draw at Juventus in the Champions League on Tuesday evening.

A number of fringe players are expected to feature here with Toby Alderweireld and Michel Vorm expected to return while Lucas Moura could make his full debut.

Fernando Llorete is 5.0 (4/1) to get the first goal of the game with Sky Bet with Moussa Sissoko a 13.0 (12/1) shot with Unibet.

This is the first ever meeting between the two sides and it is difficult to see anything other than an away win, so you may be tempted to back Spurs to make light work of it and score at least three goals, which is priced at 1.73 (8/11) with Sky Bet.

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