I have a feeling Vitesse can continue their upward trend away from the relegation places and snatch an away win. 1-2 NEC Nijmegen v Sparta Rotterdam On the whole, I have liked the look of NEC recently, and Sparta had a setback in midweek by not beating RKC at home. Sparta, of course, won’t be too disappointed by the result given their lofty position in the table, but they will be kicking themselves for not making the most of top five teams dropping points themselves.
AZ Alkmaar v FC Utrecht AZ are stronger away from home usually, but the games where the opponent arrives in Alkmaar with a bit more about them – such as seventh-placed Utrecht – AZ can enjoy more room to exploit as the away side are less likely to sit back when they are more capable. That, for me, is enough to back a home win for second-place AZ; it is really exciting for them to be currently breaking the status quo for who is near the very top of the Eredivisie. A win for Pascal Jansen’s side sees them go (at least temporarily) top.
It was clear to see this team and manager did not need more time to get it right; you could only see it ending poorly. At the time of writing, no new head coach has been put in place, so whether the performance will improve is hard to say. I do think Ajax will edge out a win here though. 0-1 FC Volendam v FC Groningen This one really is a basement battle. Volendam, with some extra vigour back in them for the relegation battle ahead need to make the most of Groningen struggling so much since Dennis van der Ree was handed the reigns.
Hiring him has not worked out well for the club, which could have been foreseen given his complete lack of experience managing. They lost to Cambuur (another side at the bottom) in midweek, sparking anger in the home crowd. I can’t see how this improves for Groningen. 2-1 Cambuur v Fortuna Sittard This one is difficult to predict. Has Sjors Ultee helped Cambuur turn a corner by beating Groningen and getting his first win as boss, or were the opponents so poor that it masked a lot of the problems they still have? Fortuna picked up three excellent points by beating Heerenveen last time out, and I think we’ll see another good performance from them here.
2-0 Sunday, 29th January FC Twente v Feyenoord This is an exciting prospect. Twente, currently fourth in the mêlée of teams chasing the Eredivisie title and the European places at the top of the table, face current league-leaders Feyenoord. I would say, with this being in Enschede, Arne Slot will do well to get a win. We have seen lately that Slot is prepared to take a draw in the tough games, and I think he’d take one now, too. Excelsior v Ajax After seven league games without a win, Ajax finally pulled the trigger and sacked Alfred Schreuder. In my view, it should have been done before Christmas.
Eredivisie Predictions & Betting 22/23: Round 19 - Football OranjeEvery week in the 2022/23 season, Football-Oranje’s Michael Statham gives you his previews and predictions for each Dutch Eredivisie round. by Michael Statham Follow Michael on Twitter @EredivisieMike Saturday, 28th January PSV v Go Ahead Eagles PSV’s midweek result against Emmen was another setback in a dodgy return from the World Cup break. We knew that goals would be harder to come by without Cody Gakpo and Noni Madueke, but there is a real lack of inspiration from their reserve replacements.
Fabio Silva has come in on loan from Wolves, who could start as a two with Luuk de Jong in attack against the Eagles. I would expect a gritty, narrow victory, similar to their last home game. 1-0 RKC Waalwijk v FC Emmen A point for RKC at Sparta and a win for Emmen over PSV will have given both sides some confidence going into this one. Emmen are down the bottom for a reason, so I don’t see an away win, but a draw would be a good result to back up the three points on Tuesday. 1-1 Heerenveen v Vitesse Arnhem The positions in the table would suggest that Heerenveen are the favourites here.