There are three matches in the Dutch Eerste Divisie this Monday and two of them include the academy teams. In the case of Jong PSV that is an interesting one, because the first team played on Saturday and players like Johan Bakayoko, Fode Fofana and Richard Ledezma didn’t feature off the bench.

They are half in and half out of the first and the academy teams and are usually a bit too good for the second division. But because they didn’t play with the first team, they will almost certainly start here. Fredrik Oppegard is in a similar situation, but that is more of an emergency solution, not because he has outgrown the second division.

On the other hand, Jong PSV did lose Dennis Vos to FC Emmen, the defender played almost every game this season, but didn’t get close to the first team, so he chose a different route. Willem II are playing a bit better since Reinier Robbemond took over from Kevin Hofland, but it hasn’t all been good, losing their last match against promotion rival Almere City. The expectation was that Willem II would be a bit more offensive under Robbemond, but that has not been the case so far. Against a Jong PSV side that is fairly vulnerable in defence, but strong going forward, that could change.

It looks like several of the first team fringe players will be getting playing time at Jong PSV and Willem II are not as good as they want to be this season, so I think the home team have a decent shot at picking up a result here.

PEC Zwolle are in great form ahead of this postponed match from round 18. They won each of the last eight league matches and are heading straight for promotion. That had been the expectation from the moment they got relegated last season, but after a bad run in September and October, they suddenly found themselves outside the direct promotion spots. That proved to be a temporary glitch, because at this point they are 11 points ahead of third place..

PEC Zwolle do not have weak spots at the moment, and talented midfielder Thomas van der Belt stands out week after week. PEC struggled a bit with TOP Oss on Friday, but a late sprint still gave them a 4-1 win. Another positive thing is that Ryan Thomas is getting fit again. The New Zealand international, who returned from PSV in January, is on his way back from a difficult injury, but played more than an hour on Friday and that was the first time in more than a year. So, things are looking bright in Zwolle.

Roda JC are struggling this season. They were dubbed an outsider for promotion but have not been great and lost manager and sporting director Jurgen Streppel along the way. In December, Streppel chose for the new money at Helmond Sport and after a month-long search, Roda decided to give the inexperienced Edwin de Graaf a six-month deal to finish this season. De Graaf won his first game in charge against Dordrecht on Friday but is generally not expected to be able to get too many results out of his inconsistent side. That makes PEC Zwolle my clear favourite to take the three points back from Kerkrade.

Chaves played their first top-flight match since 2019 on August 7 and hosted Vitória de Guimarães, who took the lead on the cusp of halftime via a goal from summer arrival André Silva. Vitória fell to 10 men in the 82nd minute as Alfa Semedo saw red and were reduced to 9 in injury time as fellow substitute Matheus Índio picked up a second yellow but were able to come away with a 1-0 victory in a match that would see Vitória pick up seven yellows and one direct expulsion, whilst the hosts earned two cautions.

Vítor Campelos’ side have bounced back from that opening day defeat and sit eighth in the table, one point behind Vitória, and they have returned from the World Cup break with a fairly low-scoring run of form. After closing out 2022 with a 2-0 home defeat to Famalicão, Chaves took the lead in the 67th minute only to concede shortly after in a 1-1 draw to Paços de Ferreira. Canadian international and World Cup participant Steven Vitória opened the scoring within 17 minutes from the spot whilst fellow center back João Basso evened things up with another spot-kick in the 79th minute as Chaves and Arouca settled for a point. They found themselves down within a half-hour as Yusupha Njie gave Boavista the lead, but the Transmotanos levelled things up on the cusp of injury time via substitute Jô and escaped Porto with a 1-1 draw.

Vitória returned from the break with a 0-3 defeat in Vizela before drawing 0-0 to Rio Ave and losing 2-1 to Gil Vicente and 0-1 to Porto. They have scored just 15 goals in 17 matches – only 12th-placed Portimonense and the bottom three have scored fewer – and they could have a tough time breaking down a Chaves side that has beaten and kept clean sheets against Braga and Sporting this season. I’m expecting a low-scoring affair in Guimarães.

The champions have reinforced well with Junior Barreto in central defence and Facundo Bruera up front, but they came crashing down to earth on Wednesday losing in the Super Cup to Sportivo Ameliano. For Sportivo Luqueño it is a first game in the top division since December 2021 who were relegated without winning in their final eight matches.

Julio César Cáceres has proved himself to be a top manager, picking up nine wins in the final ten games of the Clausura season to swoop the championship from Cerro Porteño’s grasp. Now with some key additions and surprisingly no sales of note they are favourites to retain the title. At home they have been dominant, not losing in the league in Para Uno since April when they fell to a late double by Facundo Bruera then of Nacional but now with the Decano.

Luqueño are a totally different side from the one that was relegated, and even that which won promotion last season. The new coach Gustavo Florentín has brought in a dozen players, most notably those with international experience in Pablo Aguilar, Osvaldo Martínez and Jorge Mendoza. At the other end of the spectrum a whole host of U23s have been incorporated into the auriazul set up including Paul Charpentier a classic 9 who comes from Nueva Chicago in Argentina on loan.

The last meeting between the sides was a 4-0 romp for Olimpia against what was a Luqueño in freefall, this game could be closer but it is reasonable to expect goals. The Rey de Copas averaged 1.9 goals per game in the Clausura but in their last six home matches they kept just two cleansheets, conceding five.