The Dutch second division is back after a short Christmas break with a full round of games on this Friday night. One of the interesting ties is between MVV and De Graafschap. MVV are having their best season in at least a decade so far. They are in full contention for a spot in the top two, which would guarantee them direct promotion to the top flight.

Manager Maurice Verberne came in at the end of last season and immediately made an impact for MVV with a well-organised team and decent football. They did lose two of the last three games against weaker opponents, but both those defeats were away from home, while in between they won a difficult home game against fellow promotion candidates Almere City, so the two defeats don’t seem to mean a negative turnaround in their season just yet.

De Graafschap are really struggling. They had a good run before the World Cup, but two pretty shocking home defeats in December puts them back in the bottom half of the table. Manager Adrie Poldervaart is under massive pressure from fans and sponsors, but it is said that because of the precarious financial situation, it is unlikely the board will sack him. There is no money to sign new players in January, which makes the outlook a lot worse this season and experienced players like Siem de Jong, Jeffey Fortes and Charlison Benschop don’t deliver.

For this game away at MVV there is not much hope of a result and that’s why I’d put my money on at least a draw for the home side.

The ADO Den Haag players have had a busy Christmas season. The team is now working under the legendary local hero Dick Advocaat, in what will probably be his last ever job. The now 75-year-old Advocaat sent several fringe players back to the reserve team to work with a smaller group in the second half of the season. He also barely gave his players time off during the almost three-week break over the Christmas holidays.

It remains to be seen whether that will shake things up a bit in The Hague. ADO will still miss prolific striker Thomas Verheydt for this game. Under previous manager Dirk Kuyt, the captain wanted to leave the club as he didn’t agree with much Kuyt or the board did, but since Advocaat took over he changed his mind. However, an ankle injury will keep him sidelined for now. Also, goalkeeper Hugo Wentges is injured, but the goalie hasn’t impressed, so his replacement Luuk Koopmans should have a chance to stay in goal with a decent performance.

The motivation in the team seems high and with FC Dordrecht, they’ll face a team with lower quality players and less money. Dordrecht are still a few points ahead of ADO, but the away team’s outlook is better under a manager of the highest quality, so Dordrecht seem a perfect opponent for ADO to get back to winning ways. Dordrecht are heavily dependent on Feyenoord loanee Aliou Balde, who is on seven goals from his first 11 league games for Dordrecht, but he is eyeing a different step, so it is not clear if he’ll be there for this game. All those things should mean that ADO have a good chance to take the three points here.

Heracles Almelo are promotion candidate number one at this point. They finished 2022 with an 8-1 victory over FC Dordrecht, once more showing that they are dead serious about getting back to the top flight in one season. Seven of the eight goals in that game came from the Scandinavian triangle up front with Emil Hansson, Samuel Armenteros and Nikolai Laursen. All three are ranked in the top five of the league top goal scorers and Hansson and Laursen also top the assists ranking in the second division.

Jong AZ are a bit inconsistent, like most academy teams in this league, and in this game they will probably also miss a few of their regulars. The first team are playing a day later and some of the Jong AZ players will be on the bench for that game, meaning they likely won’t feature, or get fewer minutes against Heracles.

Heracles have conceded in four of the last five games, but won all of those matches, so goals could be an option. However, a victory for the away side is probably more likely. At the moment, there is no reason to believe that Jong AZ can really give Heracles a proper run for their money, so a Heracles Almelo victory seems a logical shout for this game.

For most of this season, Jong FC Utrecht were easily the worst team in the league, but that has changed over the last few, very interrupted, months. They took two victories from the last three games, and in both those games they were the far better side against a relatively strong opponent. As it is often the case with the academy teams, they need some time at the start of the season as they’ll start with a new crop of youth players. The new crop are often not that used to professional football yet and that also goes for Jong Utrecht. Players like Christopher Mamengi, Mees Rijks and Albert Lottin have stepped up in the last games, so the future suddenly looks a lot better, even though they are still bottom of the table.

For this game against FC Den Bosch, it is unlikely Utrecht will struggle with handing players over to the first team, as they’ll only play on Sunday. The home side on the other hand lost each of the last three games against teams from the bottom half of the table, without scoring a goal and there is very little to suggest that they will be better at the start of the new year. There is no money for new players and the side simply lacks quality to be competitive in this league. That means that Jong Utrecht have a decent chance to get a result here and finally get away from the bottom of the table.