Preview: Bradford City vs Rochdale - prediction, team news, lineups

Making their first EFL Cup appearance since 2023, Rochdale will visit Valley Parade to face Bradford City in the first round of the tournament on Saturday.

Last season the Bantams reached round three before Newcastle United beat them 4-1, while Rochdale defeated Tranmere Rovers on penalties in the preliminary round this season, in a match which ended 2-2 after 90 minutes.

Match preview

Following an impressive first season back in League One in 2025-26, Bradford City will enter this competition eager to prove they have another magical EFL Cup run in them.

The club that finished as runners-up in 2012-13 have advanced beyond their opening Carabao Cup fixture in three of the last four editions, with their only first-round defeat over that stretch coming on penalties versus Grimsby Town in 2024.

Graham Alexander’s men won three of their five pre-season friendlies, with the only loss from last season’s League One playoff semi-finalists coming at Accrington Stanley in July (1-0).

A victory on Saturday would be only the second for Bradford City at home in their last seven League Cup affairs at Valley Parade, and their first since beating Hull City 2-1 in their opener back in 2022.

They have gone on to win all of their Carabao Cup ties this decade when leading at the interval, defeating Blackburn Rovers (2-1) and Stoke City (3-0) in that scenario last season

The Paraders also boast a 100% record versus Rochdale in the EFL Cup, thumping them 5-0 in their last first round meeting against them in 2005-06.

At last Rochdale are back in the EFL Cup, showing tremendous resilience in their preliminary match at the beginning of August.

Despite falling behind twice in that contest, the Greater Manchester club fought back before benefitting from a series of missed penalties to advance.

This weekend they will hope to claim their first away victory in normal time since April when they collected a narrow 2-1 triumph over Braintree Town in National League action.

The finalists of this tournament way back in 1961-62 have progressed from their last seven EFL Cup first round outings and have not been eliminated in this phase since Preston North End beat them 2-0 at Spotland Stadium in 2014.

Ian Watson will be seeking his first normal time victory since taking charge in May, with his team conceding multiple goals in all of their games under him so far.

The Dale have won three of their last four away fixtures at Bradford City across all competitions, claiming a 2-1 triumph in their last such visit in January 2023.

Bradford City Pre-season form:

Rochdale EFL Cup form:

Rochdale Pre-season form:

Team News

A quad strain will keep George Lapslie on the Bradford City sidelines for this one, while six of their summer signings started in their 2-2 friendly draw against Salford and Reece Welch will hope to make his first appearance on Saturday after signing a two-year deal this week.

Will Swan was their top goalscorer in the 2025-26 Carabao Cup, netting the winner against Blackburn Rovers and Stoke City.

Rochdale will be without Will Jenkins for the foreseeable future as the July signing ruptured his ACL in their defeat to Halifax Town last month, with Sam Beckwith, Laurence Maguire and Kaiden Wilson all questionable due to knocks.

Ryan East and Zain Silcott-Duberry netted against Tranmere Rovers, while Nils Ramming stopped two penalties and the home side misfired on two more, cancelling out the misses from Emmanuel Dieseruvwe and captain Ethan Ebanks-Landell.

Bradford City possible starting lineup:

McCracken; Welch, J. Wright, Gillesphey; Neufville, Cartwright, Phillips, Touray; Beesley, Sarcevic; Swan

Rochdale possible starting lineup:

Ramming; Adebayo-Rowling, Sherring, Ebanks-Landell, Bilongo; Francis, East; Hayes, Gilmour, Silcott-Duberry; Dieseruvwe

We say: Bradford City 2-0 Rochdale

The Bantams come into this match in good form while displaying plenty of attacking quality, and against an inexperienced manager and a side that have been anything but defensively sound of late, we expect the home team to move on.

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