The tide seems to be turning at ADO since the arrival of Dick Advocaat. The experienced manager came out of retirement for his hometown club after Dirk Kuyt had made a mess of his first four months in charge of the side. Last week they won the league game against FC Dordrecht and this week they qualified for the round of 16 in the cup. However, neither of those victories came easy. The cup win was hard fought against an amateur team and in the league against Dordrecht, ADO played against 10 men for 70 minutes.

Things are looking up, as star striker Thomas Verheydt returned from injury as well this week. That means that the bookies seem to think that ADO are heavy favourites against 3rd in the league and I think that is a bit too much praise. MVV are having a great season. They are playing good football and have some interesting players with Koen Kostons and 18-year-old Ruben van Bommel. They have dropped a few points recently and lost touch with the top two who’d get direct promotion at the end of the season, but despite not winning as much, they are still playing dominant football and the next win only seems a matter of time.

It is hard to see ADO being the clear favourite here and even in The Hague, MVV should be getting a result in this game. With these odds, that seems worth a bet.

Helmond Sport have a new owner this season, and with this new ownership we have seen heavy investment, but at first that didn’t have a lot of effect. It cost inexperienced manager Sven Swinnen his job. The far higher rated Bob Peeters has come in as replacement and has already done a lot better with the same squad that does hold some quality.

NAC Breda are almost the opposite. Heavy fan protests managed to keep the City Group out, but the group of local investors who stepped in don’t have anywhere near as much resources, so the club had to tighten their belt. Results haven’t been that great, but the return from the Christmas break have been positive. A league win and a cup win over two local rivals have lightened the mood a bit, but both of those games were tight and NAC had to go all out on Tuesday. They had to go to extra time in their victory over Eindhoven and the 120 minutes, just 72 hours before this game could cost them. NAC Breda don’t have a big squad and are mostly dependent on the same players.

Helmond Sport are missing Arno van Keilegom due to a suspension. The midfielder has been one of their decent players this season, but they had a full week to prepare for this game, because they didn’t have cup duties.

Helmond Sport are not the clear favourites, but under Peeters they’ve improved a fair bit and NAC Breda is not the toughest opponent they could get at this point, so I think there is value in betting on a Helmond Sport, with the safeguard that a draw won’t lose you your stake.

On matchday 20 of the Pro League, Westerlo and OHL will clash in a game where both teams are technically gifted and have earned the sympathy of the neutral football fan with their well-kept football. Before the start of the season, avoiding relegation was the objective, but with the better-than-expected results, Westerlo are hoping for that little bit more.

In the last three matches OHL have lost twice at home to team-in-form KV Kortrijk. In both the cup game (1-3) and the league game (2-3), it was a clash ridden with goals. In between, they achieved a hopeful draw at national champions Club Brugge (1-1).

In their last game against Kortrijk, Leuven will be kicking themselves for not taking their chances. In the second half, they had the majority of ball possession and chances, but ran into sharp counter attacks. An even bigger setback is the loss of captain Mathieu Maertens, who was having a strong season. If his injury turns out to be a long-term one, OHL may have to look for a replacement in the remaining transfer period.

Westerlo are slight favorites in this match thanks to their excellent home record. Last week the football was less than convincing, but they did win at Cercle Brugge after an early penalty. Moreover, they are four points above OHL and have the luxury of looking for a draw if need be. Westerlo currently find themselves in 7th place, which puts them in a play-off spot. Club Brugge’s poor form means the gap with the Play-Off 1 places is just four points. Provided a win at their Kuipje, Westerlo can get within one point of Play-Off 1 on Friday. On the other hand, OHL can play their way back into the Play-Off 2 spots.

We don’t see either team straying from their familiar attacking play and expect a chance-filled game. Westerlo scored at least one goal in the last 12 league games and OHL have done the same in the last six. OHL could only keep a clean sheet once in the last 10 league matches. Moreover, the goalkeepers of both teams did not leave an overly confident impression after the last few weeks.

It has been a sensational three weeks since the Primeira Liga resumed with Benfica ending 2022 by losing for the first time all season under new manager Roger Schmidt in a 3-0 defeat at Braga, before grinding out a 1-0 home victory against Portimonense via a 9th-minute penalty from João Mário, whilst Porto and Sporting dropped points at the weekend to Casa Pia and Marítimo. Braga would thrash Santa Clara 4-0 with captain Ricardo Horta scoring a brace and Iuri Medeiros and André Horta grabbing goals in the Azores. This prompted the dismissal of Mário Silva following a start to the campaign that has seen them lose to second-tier Tondela in the third round of the Taça de Portugal and take one point from four Taça da Liga matches – three of their opponents being lower-tier sides.

Defeat to Braga left the Azoreans one point above the relegation playoff spot with three wins, four draws and eight defeats thus far, and Jorge Simão will be looking to rescue them from a looming relegation fight as he returns to management 13 months after being sacked by Paços de Ferreira. I’m expecting a fairly low-scoring affair as Santa Clara take on 11th-placed Portimonense in the Algarve – Simão will be looking to tighten up at the back after conceding four goals to start 2023, and Santa Clara have been able to achieve plenty of low-scoring results against midtable opponents such as a 1-0 defeat to Gil Vicente, a 0-0 draw to Chaves, a 1-0 win against Vizela, and plenty more. Nine of their 15 league matches have seen under 2.5 goals scored and I’m expecting something similar on Friday – the Algarvians have the fourth-worst attack in Portugal with 13 goals scored, just ahead of Santa Clara as well as relegation strugglers Marítimo and Paços de Ferreira.