Fortuna Sittard v Sparta Rotterdam (*Match Postponed*)

What a massive game this is at the bottom of the Eredivisie! Sparta earnt only their third win of the season last weekend. Two of those three wins have come against Willem II; the other was against this weekend’s opposition. Henk Fraser’s men worked hard back in front of their home supporters to secure a rare three points. Many fans feel as though this is also a make-or-break fixture for their survival hopes, so we may see another tenacious performance here.

Sparta sit seventeenth, four points from safety in fifteenth. Fortuna are sixteenth, two points better off. All three sides in the bottom three won last weekend, and the three teams above them all lost, so the Eredivisie bottom half is getting really tight. The Sittard side play PEC Zwolle and Willem II at home after this.
The pressure is on both sides then going into this. Fortuna, for me, have the extra attacking quality with the likes of Zian Flemming and Mats Seuntjens. I think they might cancel each other out because of the magnitude of the fixture. I will back Fortuna to at least avoid defeat on home soil, and if they fall behind, I believe they have the firepower to fight back

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NEC Nijmegen v RKC Waalwijk

NEC continue to show themselves to be a tight unit who can score a goal or two on the counter attack. Their back five has continued to look impressive, which has lead them up to eighth place. Surprisingly, they have now not won at home since October.

Manager Joseph Oosting is fully aware of RKC’s precarious position in the bottom half of the Eredivisie despite some encouraging results at the start of 2022. They’ve lost the last three but that won’t induce panic amongst their experienced squad. In their previous fixture, they nearly clawed a result against Feyenoord, but they fell to a 0-2 defeat because of a goalkeeping error from Etienne Vaessen in the first half.

I think that this will be a close game where there isn’t a lot to choose between the two sides. The result is hard to call, but NEC will want to end their barren home run without a win, and they know RKC aren’t playing too well at the moment. That said, RKC are unbeaten in seven of their eleven away matches (scoring in nine of them) in the Eredivisie, so NEC will find them a tough nut to crack

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Willem II v Ajax

Anything other than an Ajax win here would be easily one of the shocks of the season. Even though Willem II have beaten PSV already at home this season, that was a freak result on the balance of play, and they have gone on to have a wretched season. A shocking run of eleven defeats was ended with a win over RKC, before another shocking display at Sparta last time out, where they simply didn’t create any chances.

Ajax’s record of over 100 goals scored and only 10 goals conceded in all competitions this season is incredible and not something the Tilburgers can compete with. So it is a question of how many. I think that the Champions League tie on Wednesday will mean Erik Ten Hag will be seeking an early goal to deflate their hosts before changing some of his team by the hour mark, which might lead to a boring game for the neutral, but Ajax want to get the job done without overexerting themselves.

If they really went for it, Ajax could score five, six, seven, or more, but I don’t see them ‘going for it’ this weekend with Benfica in mind. Early goals should therefore be expected before a quieter second half. Although I would back Sébastien Haller to add to his goal tally

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AZ Alkmaar v Heracles Almelo

AZ are on a phenomenal run of form: 16 unbeaten, into the Dutch Cup semi-final, and they are set to continue their excellent European campaign next month. This game should therefore be a given that they win, but throughout their excellent form, they have occasionally found it hard to break down opposition; I’m thinking about the goalless draws with Cambuur and Vitesse, plus the narrow win over Groningen, where they had lots of possession but sometimes lacked the cutting edge.

On the whole though, this AZ side have made great strides since October. Vangelis Pavlidis has a goal involvement every 118 minutes in all competitions, and whilst Jesper Karlsson is going through a relatively ‘quiet’ spell, it’s encouraging that AZ have goals coming from elsewhere in the team to make up for it.
After some poor results, Heracles edged past Utrecht 1-0 last Friday. It was a dire first half, but they managed to create openings in the second, and they relied on a little bit of luck keeping them out at the other end.

I don’t see Heracles surprising AZ. The only way AZ would drop points is if they have an off-day. I’m going to go with a home win, which maintains AZ’s excellent run.

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