A home win is expected from this fixture if the league table is anything to judge by. The Sunderland fans are optimistic that the difference between 6th and Rochdale's 18th place in the table will show on the pitch.
There’s little time for restitution or working hard at the training pitch these days, with both teams having played their last game less than four days ago.
Sunderland form and stats
30 points is a decent return from 15 League One games here at Stadium of Light for Sunderland. The data says 8 wins, 6 draws and 1 loss.
A nice win for Sunderland last time playing, versus Ipswich Town. That was also a home game and the match ended 1-0 with C. Maguire scoring for the victors. Heartbreak before that as Sunderland lost 0-2 at Portsmouth's place.
Sunderland are believed to win this game, given a winning chance of about 70% by the bookmakers. We have checked our records for their performance in similar circumstances and found two matches and the win/draw/lost stats: Won two, drew zero and lost zero.
There will be little rest for Sunderland after this match as they are travelling to Oxford United for a League One game in only four days.
The Sunderland fans have had their share of opportunities to cheer home goals this season, having seen 26 goals in 15 league matches. Sunderland are not conceding a lot of goals here at Stadium of Light in the league, averaging less than one per game. The total is 10 from 15 matches.
Rochdale form and stats
The story so far for the visiting team on their League One travels is 5 wins, 2 draws and 9 defeats.
It's another away game for the visitors, as they travelled to Doncaster Rovers (placed 8th) in their previous outing. The League One match ended in a draw 1-1. A home win before that, celebrating 1-0 vs Shrewsbury Town.
We have done a similar check as we did with the hometeam, looking up recent matches where Rochdale played away with similar odds. This revealed three games. The visitors overcame the odds to win zero times, zero were draws and the home team won as expected three times.
After this away game Rochdale return home for a League One game against Tranmere Rovers. That game is only four sleeps after this.
Rochdale find the net in their away games, although not all the time. 20 goals from 16 away fixtures in the league. In the opposite end, Rochdale have conceded 29 goals in their away games.
Head 2 Head
This is the result when the teams met earlier this season; Rochdale - Sunderland 1-2. Numbers for the last three meetings between these two teams are: three wins for Sunderland, zero draws and zero wins for Rochdale. Over 2,5 goals: three times; under 2,5 goals: zero games.Top Goalscorers
  I. Henderson 13 goals |   C. Maguire 10 goals |  L. Gooch 8 goals |
Sunderland missing players
Rochdale missing players
| Sunderland | Rochdale | ||||||
| Total | Home | vs | Statistics | Stat | vs | Away | Total |
| 29 | 15 | 5 | Played | P | 4 | 16 | 30 |
| 13 | 8 | 4 | Won | W | 1 | 5 | 9 |
| 9 | 6 | 1 | Drew | D | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| 7 | 1 | 0 | Lost | L | 3 | 9 | 15 |
| 38 | 26 | 11 | Scored | S | 3 | 20 | 35 |
| 26 | 10 | 2 | Conceded | C | 10 | 29 | 48 |
| 93% | 87% | 80% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 100% | 94% | 93% |
| 69% | 73% | 60% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 75% | 81% | 80% |
| 38% | 47% | 60% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 75% | 75% | 63% |
| 17% | 27% | 40% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 25% | 31% | 23% |
| 3% | 7% | 20% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 25% | 19% | 13% |
| 52% | 60% | 40% | BTTS | BTTS | 50% | 62% | 57% |
| 28% | 40% | 60% | Clean Sheets | C S | 25% | 19% | 23% |
| 28% | 13% | 20% | Failed to Score | F T | 25% | 25% | 27% |
| 5 | 5 | 7 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 4.8 | 3.3 | 3.8 |
| 4.4 | 3.9 | 4.8 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 6 | 6.4 | 5.5 |
| 2.3 | 1.8 | 1.8 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 2.2 | 1.9 | 1.4 |
| 3 | 1 | 0 | Red cards | R C | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 342 | 188 | 88 | Total Shots | T S | 41 | 167 | 318 |
| 106 | 63 | 28 | Shots on Target | S O | 10 | 53 | 101 |
| 36% | 41% | 39% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 30% | 38% | 35% |
- Rochdale has the most dropped points from leading position (24)
- Rochdale have played more matches over 2,5 goals away than home.
- Sunderland has the fewest conceded goals (26)
- Sunderland have played more matches over 2,5 goals home than away.
- Sunderland have scored at least twice as many goals as they have conceded at home.
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Rotherham United | 30 | 17 | 5 | 8 | 54 | 30 | 15 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 28 | 13 | 15 | 9 | 2 | 4 | 26 | 17 | 24 | 56 |
| 2 | Wycombe Wanderers | 30 | 15 | 8 | 7 | 39 | 35 | 16 | 12 | 3 | 1 | 31 | 18 | 14 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 17 | 4 | 53 |
| 3 | Peterborough United | 31 | 15 | 7 | 9 | 60 | 37 | 15 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 35 | 13 | 16 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 25 | 24 | 23 | 52 |
| 4 | Coventry City | 28 | 13 | 12 | 3 | 40 | 28 | 14 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 19 | 10 | 14 | 4 | 8 | 2 | 21 | 18 | 12 | 51 |
| 5 | Portsmouth | 28 | 14 | 8 | 6 | 43 | 29 | 14 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 26 | 12 | 14 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 17 | 17 | 14 | 50 |
| 6 | Sunderland | 29 | 13 | 9 | 7 | 38 | 26 | 15 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 26 | 10 | 14 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 12 | 16 | 12 | 48 |
| 7 | Ipswich Town | 30 | 13 | 9 | 8 | 41 | 30 | 13 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 19 | 14 | 17 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 22 | 16 | 11 | 48 |
| 8 | Doncaster Rovers | 29 | 12 | 9 | 8 | 44 | 28 | 17 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 25 | 17 | 12 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 19 | 11 | 16 | 45 |
| 9 | Fleetwood Town | 28 | 12 | 9 | 7 | 43 | 34 | 15 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 22 | 12 | 13 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 21 | 22 | 9 | 45 |
| 10 | Oxford United | 28 | 12 | 8 | 8 | 45 | 31 | 13 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 23 | 11 | 15 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 22 | 20 | 14 | 44 |
| 11 | Burton Albion | 29 | 11 | 9 | 9 | 39 | 36 | 14 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 14 | 9 | 15 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 25 | 27 | 3 | 42 |
| 12 | Gillingham | 29 | 9 | 13 | 7 | 33 | 27 | 15 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 24 | 14 | 14 | 1 | 10 | 3 | 9 | 13 | 6 | 40 |
| 13 | Bristol Rovers | 29 | 10 | 8 | 11 | 33 | 41 | 15 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 19 | 17 | 14 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 14 | 24 | -8 | 38 |
| 14 | Blackpool | 28 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 36 | 34 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 20 | 16 | 15 | 2 | 8 | 5 | 16 | 18 | 2 | 37 |
| 15 | Lincoln City | 31 | 11 | 4 | 16 | 37 | 39 | 14 | 9 | 1 | 4 | 24 | 15 | 17 | 2 | 3 | 12 | 13 | 24 | -2 | 37 |
| 16 | Shrewsbury Town | 28 | 8 | 11 | 9 | 25 | 32 | 13 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 16 | 16 | 15 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 16 | -7 | 35 |
| 17 | Accrington Stanley | 29 | 8 | 9 | 12 | 39 | 43 | 14 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 27 | 20 | 15 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 12 | 23 | -4 | 33 |
| 18 | Rochdale | 30 | 9 | 6 | 15 | 35 | 48 | 14 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 15 | 19 | 16 | 5 | 2 | 9 | 20 | 29 | -13 | 33 |
| 19 | Milton Keynes Dons | 30 | 9 | 5 | 16 | 32 | 41 | 16 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 19 | 20 | 14 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 21 | -9 | 32 |
| 20 | AFC Wimbledon | 29 | 7 | 7 | 15 | 35 | 44 | 15 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 18 | 18 | 14 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 17 | 26 | -9 | 28 |
| 21 | Tranmere Rovers | 29 | 5 | 7 | 17 | 28 | 53 | 16 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 19 | 26 | 13 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 9 | 27 | -25 | 22 |
| 22 | Southend United | 29 | 3 | 7 | 19 | 33 | 72 | 13 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 13 | 35 | 16 | 2 | 3 | 11 | 20 | 37 | -39 | 16 |
| 23 | Bolton Wanderers | 27 | 5 | 8 | 14 | 23 | 57 | 15 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 17 | 21 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 6 | 36 | -34 | 11 |