Every week in the 2021/22 season, Football-Oranje’s Michael Statham gives you his previews and predictions for each Dutch Eredivisie round.

  • by Michael Statham
  • Follow Michael on Twitter @EredivisieMike
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Saturday, 22nd October

Feyenoord v Fortuna Sittard

Feyenoord will be pleased to be back near the very top of the Eredivisie table following an important 1-3 win at AZ last Sunday.

They now have four winnable league games before the World Cup, starting with a home match against a dangerous Fortuna, who are unbeaten in five league games, but they are a side Feyenoord should be getting past in De Kuip.

2-0

RKC Waalwijk v Ajax

I have spread the love for RKC Waalwijk this season. An unfancied team by many, Joseph Oosting is really getting this lowly side playing some good football whilst being tough to beat. Their only two defeats after ten games have been 1-0 to both PSV and Feyenoord. Admittedly they lost in the Dutch Cup to an amateur side in mid-week, though that was with a much-changed side.

By following the same logic as when other top teams have played RKC, Ajax are likely to win narrowly in Waalwijk; however, no clean sheet in seven games in all competitions is making fans nervous that this season’s title race will be more wide open than previous years, and Ajax are the fall guys.

You’d be brave to predict a good result for Waalwijk, but Ajax have been a bit all over the place recently, that is despite their 7-1 win over Excelsior.

1-1

Vitesse Arnhem v FC Emmen

Phillip Cocu finally got his first win in charge of Vitesse – a 0-3 success away at Cambuur. They just did everything a little bit better, and backing that up with a win over out-of-form Emmen would inject so much back into their season. That said, Vitesse were another Eredivisie side to lose to an amateur side in the Dutch Cup this week, albeit with a rotated starting eleven.

Emmen were the better side in their 1-1 draw with fellow bottom side Volendam last Friday – just poor finishing denied them three points.

I still think Vitesse will get the three points after their encouraging display at Cambuur.

2-1

Sunday, 23rd October

Excelsior v AZ Alkmaar

Excelsior will continue to lose some games heavily this season. They were leaky in the Keuken Kampioen Divisie before their promotion, so their 7-1 defeat to Ajax (which should have been double figures) doesn’t surprise me.

I think that will make the difference again on Sunday. AZ will be gutted to have lost their last two (Apollon and, in particular, Feyenoord); however, Pascal Jansen has had a good season so far as a head coach – making some of us eat humble pie – so I think they’ll bounce back.

1-3

NEC Nijmegen v Go Ahead Eagles

NEC were disappointing and hot tempered as they lost to Sparta last weekend. Their long run of draws is over. They have only won once all season, so there will be some more pressure now on them to win this.

Go Ahead continue to notch results; their last one was a last-minute, salvaged 1-1 draw with Heerenveen. It gives me the feeling they will work hard again and possibly snatch something from an underperforming NEC.

1-1

FC Groningen v PSV

Groningen are in a relegation battle. They cannot seem to compete with the top sides at all this season, when usually Groningen away is a tough match for any of the Eredivisie’s finest.

PSV score goals galore when playing the league’s lesser lights, so we could be in for more fun and frolics from Cody Gakpo and Xavi Simons, but they may not be too fresh having played Arsenal on Thursday. We may even see a full return from injury for trio Noni Madueke, Luuk de Jong and Mauro Junior, adding some much needed quality back into the team.

1-3

Cambuur v FC Twente

After failing to score again, my pre-season prediction of Cambuur being in relegation trouble this season is starting to look realistic, but not for the reasons I thought. The club from Leeuwarden were defensively poor last season, and I thought their goalkeeper signing Joao Virginia wasn’t a great one, yet it’s the forward players who have been disappointing more than anything.

This week, Cambuur had the sad news that Henk de Jong has had to step down as head coach following a continuation of an illness that forced him to take time out last season too. As the club search for a successor, they may continue to have the same struggle for goals. It might be by January (the season re-start) when they can have time with the new manager and possibly a chance to bring in one or two fresh attacking faces.

On the road, Twente have a poor record this season, winning only once from five away games. Whilst several were against top-half sides, they haven’t performed anywhere near as well as they do in Enschede. However, this is Twente’s opportunity to pounce.

1-2

FC Utrecht v Sparta Rotterdam

Henk Fraser is getting more fans on his back after losing 6-1 to PSV.

Meanwhile, Sparta are flying, beating NEC to rack up 17 points from their openin 10 games, sitting pretty in sixth.

I am going with a draw because of how closely matched these sides will be.

1-1

FC Volendam v Heerenveen

At the moment, Volendam look in real danger of the drop. They concede far too many for this level, and they don’t look competitive against some of the sides around them when playing away from home.

On the plus side, they have occasionally surprised everybody when playing at home: they run Ajax ragged recently, and they have beaten Twente.

Heerenveen continue to be a defensively set-up team which picks up results more often than not. They are lacking some goals at the moment. It was a shame to see them score at Go Ahead Eagles last weekend then try to sit back and see out the game – several times this season, it would have been good to see Kees van Wonderen throw caution to the wind, change the formation to a more positive one, and go for the three points.

Playing on the counter attack might suit the visitors here though.

1-2

How has Michael got on so far?

Week 1: 6/9 results + 8/9 bets

Week 2: 2/9 results + 6/9 bets

Week 3: 4/6 results + 3/4 bets

Week 4: 4/9 results + 2/4 bets

Week 5: 4/9 results and 1 correct score + 3/4 bets

Week 6: 5/9 results and 1 correct score + 2/4 bets

Week 7: 2/9 results and 1 correct score + 1/4 bets

Week 8: 5/9 results and 1 correct score + 3/4 bets

Week 9: 2/9 results + 3/4 bets

Week 10: 4/9 results + 4/4 bets




Michael Statham (803 Posts)

Writer/interviewer/YouTuber for Football-Oranje. Massive Dutch football fan from the UK. Follow me @EredivisieMike & subscribe to Football-Oranje on YouTube.