#BVGoldenGoal: Five Stats that Matter for Rochdale v Tottenham Hotspur

This week’s #BVGoldenGoal match has a proper old school FA Cup tie feel to it.

You just have to look at the state of the Spotland pitch when Rochdale faced Millwall in the last round to understand the difficulties that Spurs will come up against when they face the League One side.

Will factors like this affect the picks you make when choosing the man, the minute and the match?

https://twitter.com/JamesRhodes01/status/960949584297168897

We’ve crunched the numbers to help you make an educated guess and be in with a chance of taking home the full £25,000 prize pool.

 1. 33 goals – hotshot Kane has more goals than any other player in 2017/18

Kane will be back at the ground where he made his professional debut this weekend – he played at Spotland when on loan at Leyton Orient in 2011.

Since then he’s enjoyed a meteoric rise and this season he has more goals (in all competitions) than the likes of Lionel Messi, Cristano Ronaldo, Neymar and Robert Lewandowski.

With that in mind, it’s no surprise to see Kane the most popular #BVGoldenGoal pick for ‘First Goalscorer’ with 28 struggles this term.

Keith Hill’s men are bottom of League One and have only won three league games since October last year.

Two of those three victories have been by a 1-0 margin and you feel if they cause a shock on Sunday, it will come in the same way.

1-0 Rochdale and 2-1 Rochdale are the most popular predicted scorelines in favour of the hosts, with both being picked by around 1.3{2145621b26fc9aaf9f712205cef9de9b6b89ae8741f566ab7f58c50f0e39ac2a} of players.

3. Tottenham have drawn their last four away games

Spurs’ last four away trips have all been of a differing nature – Southampton, Newport County, Liverpool and Juventus.

Yet the one constant has been the results – each one has ended all square.

You wouldn’t be surprised if Sunday match at Spotland was similar to the attritional affair at Rodney Parade when Pochettino’s men drew 1-1 with Newport – Spurs side was fairly strong but their League One opponents more than matched them for 90 minutes.

Despite this, draws haven’t been the most popular in terms of the predicted scorelines – 1.1{2145621b26fc9aaf9f712205cef9de9b6b89ae8741f566ab7f58c50f0e39ac2a} have opted for 1-1, while a result of 2-2 has been picked by just 0.54{2145621b26fc9aaf9f712205cef9de9b6b89ae8741f566ab7f58c50f0e39ac2a} of players.

4. Ian Henderson has scored 13 goals in all competitions

With just 28 strikes in 29 league games, the Dale have been far from prolific this season.

Yet striker Ian Henderson has done relatively well in front of goal, with five goals in their five FA Cup games so far, along with his eight strikes in League One.

The striker isn’t the biggest of players, but his movement could cause Spurs’ back line problems and if anyone is likely to open the scoring for the home side, you’d have to hedge your bets on it being him.

Ten Spurs players are a more popular pick for first goal – including the much-maligned Moussa Sissoko. So if you pick Henderson and he does net first, you l’ll be on the right path to getting a big chunk of the £25k #BVGoldenGoal prize pool.

5. ‘Any Own Goal’ the sixth most popular pick

Last week ‘Any Own Goal’ got more predictions than any Southampton player did in the #BVGoldenGoal game – Southampton v Liverpool – and this week, the selection has proven more popular than any member of the Rochdale squad, with just over 5.2{2145621b26fc9aaf9f712205cef9de9b6b89ae8741f566ab7f58c50f0e39ac2a} of votes.

It’s easy to see the logic behind this.

Rochdale’s biggest threat will come from set pieces, as they’ll look to cause havoc in the box and send in dangerous deliveries – with Spurs players being put under pressure in these situations, it wouldn’t be a shock to see a player turn the ball into their own net.

Spurs defender Davinson Sanchez scored an own goal from a Southampton cross in the #BVGoldenGoal game last month, so perhaps this has also affected a high number of predictions for ‘Any Own Goal’.

Rochdale are a massive to cause an upset and beat Spurs on Sunday, with the draw at and Tottenham favs to advance through to the FA Cup quarter-finals.

Remember if you place a #BVGoldenGoal selection on a player who isn’t in the matchday squad, you will be entitled to another prediction once the line-ups have been announced.

Enter your predictions for Sunday’s #BVGoldenGoal match here.