VVV Venlo have one of the worst defensive records in the league, conceding 24 goals in 13 games. They kept a rare clean sheet last week facing a poor Jong Ajax side but prior to that lost 6 out of 7 Eerste Divisie contests. The main reason for that was their aforementioned shocking defensive record. VVV have conceded at least two goals in 8 of their last 10 league games which is obviously very very poor. There is a lot of pressure on their attack force to bail them out of trouble which doesn’t always happen. Venlo are still only 18th in the table but might be able to gain some confidence from that rare victory last week.

Jonz AZ started the season with a 6-0 win and a 1-6 loss. They have continued their high scoring streak recently with 7 of their last 8 fixtures going over 2.5 goals. Jong AZ have conceded at least two goals in 6 of their previous 7 encounters and aren’t in great form having lost several recent games. In total, Jong AZ have lost 5 out of 6 encounters and yet again suffered a reverse last week 2-3 at home to Cambuur. Taking the straight over 2.5 goals looks good here considering the two defenses on show.

One of the big form teams in the Eerste Divisie are Volendam who have won 6 of their last 8 fixtures to climb up to 5th in the standings. They are a short priced favourite to beat a poor Jong Utrecht side who have won just one solitary match all season. Volendam matches are usually full of goals (4 per game). They are one of the highest scoring teams in the division but also concede a fair few. In Robert Muhren and Henk Veerman they have a reliable goalscorer with winger Bilal Ould-Chikh a consistent playmaker. 11/13 of their fixtures have gone over 2.5 this campaign.

The 26 goals that Jong Utrecht have conceded can only be toppled by Jong AZ and this is a terrible defence which regularly gets taken apart. They have kept just once clean sheet all season and conceded at least two goals on eight different occasions. One good piece of news for Jong Utrecht is that they finally won for the first time last week in what was a wild 4-3 victory vs Maastricht. They have no choice but to have a serious go offensively because their defence is so poor. This match could go miles over the goal lines so taking over 3.5 looks like a very good bet. Volendam could cover it on their own but Jong Utrecht are also capable of chipping in.

Cambuur have been in decent form, winning 5 out of 7 contests. Four of those wins were to nil and Cambuur do have one of the better defensive records in the division. But it’s not a guarantee they can keep a clean sheet as last week proved when they only beat Jong AZ 3-2 as an odds-on favourite. Cambuur now have more goals in then compared to the start of the season where they struggled to hit the back of the net. They’ve scored in seven straight games and become a more reliable attacking force.

Jong PSV are always a difficult side to predict in terms of team selection, but usually play with an attacking style.. They’ve lost five of their last six league games and have a poor defense which has conceded at least two goals on nine different occasions. Last week a home defeat to FC Emmen 2-3 demonstrated their deficiencies. Cambuur should logically rack up a convincing win and do plenty of the heavy lifting, but over 3.5 goals stands out as a great value bet considering the gulf between the two teams. Jong PSV stunned Cambuur in this fixture last season by beating them 4-3 so maybe they can take some heart from that!

Eerste Divisie box office viewing has been provided by a De Graafschap outfit who have now netted the most goals out of anyone (33) after a convincing 4-1 win against Dordrecht last week. Their fixtures average a massive 4.20 goals per game and that is because they also have one of the worst defensive records. This is a team who are regularly involved in shootouts with a massive 11 out of 13 games going over 3.5 goals. Their matches are a must watch for the neutral and taking over goals is a staple of any bet involving them.

This looks set to be a firecracker of a fixture away to a Maastricht side who have been involved in some crazy matches recently. They became the first team to suffer defeat against Jong Utrecht last week when they were on the end of a 3-4 reverse, something which highlighted some major defensive issues of late. They also got beat 2-3 by Excelsior a couple of rounds ago and have recently been on a high goals trend. Losing a trio of consecutive games could rock their confidence but perhaps they might come out on the right side of a shootout here. This game could go wildly over so it’s worth taking the extra line of over 4.5, which isn’t that far off the average goals per game of De Graafschap of 4.2!