The numbers don't lie, but sometimes they don't tell you everything either. Rochdale sit atop the National League table with ten wins from twelve matches, a fortress at Spotland, and the kind of momentum that makes bookmakers nervous. They've conceded just four goals at home all season. They control games with a maturity that belies their status as a sixth-tier side. On paper, Friday night should be a procession.

But here's what keeps me awake: that FA Cup defeat to York City last week wasn't just a loss. It was a crack in the armor. When you're riding high, when you're the team everyone's chasing, when the pressure shifts from proving yourself to defending your position, that's when the mind games begin. I've seen it happen to players at every level. One moment you're invincible, the next you're second-guessing decisions that used to come naturally. Rochdale have lost twice in five matches now, and while Jim Bentley will talk about rotation and cup competitions meaning something different, the players feel every defeat in their bones.

Emmanuel Dieseruvwe has been their talisman, a physical presence up front who scored twice at Carlisle and grabbed another against York, but even he couldn't prevent that cup exit. The thing about strikers is they need service, they need confidence, and they need the team playing with that same swagger that saw Rochdale put four past Solihull Moors just weeks ago. When you're top of the table, opponents study you differently. They set up to frustrate you. They make the pitch smaller. Every team that walks into Spotland now knows exactly what they're facing.

Yeovil arrive in Greater Manchester with their own psychological battle to fight. Two consecutive defeats have punctured whatever momentum they'd built through three straight wins in late September. Getting hammered 3-0 by Boreham Wood at home, then losing in the FA Cup to Hemel Hempstead Town—these aren't the kind of results that fill a dressing room with belief ahead of a trip to the league leaders. The coach leaves Huish Park at 7:15am for a reason: it's a long journey north, plenty of time to think about what's waiting for them.

But there's something intriguing about Yeovil's away form that the headline numbers don't capture. They've kept things tight on their travels, rarely getting blown out, averaging around 1.2 expected goals for and 1.3 against. They're organized, they're difficult to break down, and they've got players like Tyreek Campbell who can punish you if you switch off for even a moment. Campbell grabbed two in that 4-1 win at Aldershot, showing he's got the quality to hurt teams when given space.

The tactical battle will be fascinating because Rochdale don't play the kind of expansive, high-risk football that creates chaos. They control possession, they're compact defensively, they create chances without overcommitting. Their expected goals ratio at home is the best in the division. But that control-based approach requires everyone to be mentally sharp, everyone to be making the right decisions under pressure. When you've just lost in the cup, when you're feeling that first touch of vulnerability, maintaining that discipline becomes harder.

Harvey Gilmour won September's Player of the Month after playing every minute of four consecutive wins without conceding. That's the standard. That's what got them to the top. But October has been different—messier, more chaotic, losses creeping in where there were only victories before. The mental shift from chasing the league to defending your position at the summit is enormous. You're no longer the underdog. You're the scalp everyone wants.

Rochdale should win this match. Their home record demands it, their quality suggests it, and the gulf in the table—thirty points to whatever Yeovil have managed—indicates it should be comfortable. But I've been in too many dressing rooms, felt too many pressure situations, to believe any match between professional footballers is ever straightforward. Yeovil will arrive with nothing to lose and everything to prove. They'll sit deep, they'll look to frustrate, and they'll hope Rochdale's recent wobbles have planted just enough doubt to create an opening.

The smart money backs Rochdale to win ugly, control the game, and edge it without fireworks. But if I'm Jim Bentley, I'm more concerned about what's happening in my players' heads right now than I am about Yeovil's tactics. Because the hardest part of leading the league isn't the football—it's managing the weight of expectation when suddenly everyone's hunting you down.