Every week in the 2017/18 season, Football-Oranje writer Michael Statham offers you his predictions for each Eredivisie round, accompanied by his betting tips. Michael competes against a different special guest each week. This time, it’s Bristol City Women’s Dutch defender Danique Kerkdijk, who gave her predictions after an exclusive interview with Football-Oranje, which you can watch here.
- by Michael Statham
- Follow Michael on Twitter @EredivisieMike
- Follow Danique on Twitter @daniquekerkdijk
Friday 19th January
Utrecht v AZ
Michael’s prediction: Where does Utrecht’s season go from here? Impressive manager Erik Ten Hag left for Ajax, who was the driving force for how Utrecht ground results, played in their way and kept key players.
I think the club have made the right decision in appointing Jean-Paul de Jong as the new boss – who was Ten Hag’s assistant. It allows consistency for the players in an important part of the season, where Utrecht play four of the top five at home in their following six games.
AZ will be gunning for third place in the remaining fifteen games. Oussama Idrissi is a good addition to the team. I think the visitors will pinch an away win here – they’ll have just enough to grab the goals to win. 1-2
Danique’s prediction: Utrecht are really good at home. AZ have recently lost Dos Santos and I think he’s really good. 2-2
Tip: Both teams to score.
Saturday 20th January
Roda JC v Twente
Michael’s prediction: Roda and Twente are both in the bottom three. However, Roda have lost their last three and Twente lost only one of their six games before the winter break.
What’s more Twente will have been working hard over Christmas to ensure they stay up comfortably over the second half of the campaign. They have the talent, only the organisation has been missing from their defensive play. Something which Gertjan Verbeek has been working on.
I think we’ll see a continuation of Twente’s positive form. Roda have many more issues. 0-2
Danique’s prediction: I’m backing Twente who I used to play for. 1-3
Tip: Twente away win.
PEC Zwolle v NAC Breda
Michael’s prediction: PEC Zwolle have been fantastic this season. Let’s hope they can keep it up after the winter break as it’s been refreshing to see in the Eredivisie.
They don’t have too many goals in their side, but I would back them to beat struggling NAC. 2-1
Danique’s prediction: PEC have played really well this season. 2-0
Tip: NAC +2 Asian handicap.
ADO Den Haag v VVV-Venlo
Michael’s prediction: ADO are in the top half of the table because of Alfons Groenendijk’s way of playing. Whilst ADO aren’t an open team to play against, they like the win or bust mentality. It kept them up last season, and their record of eight wins, two draws and eight defeats in this campaign speaks for itself.
They’ll be going for all three points here too. VVV have done well on the road this season, but this time ADO will have enough tools in attack to get past them. Another tight result to predict. 2-0
Danique’s prediction: Sometimes they play really well, sometimes not. But I think they can beat VVV in their own stadium. 2-1
Tip: ADO -0.5 Asian handicap.
Vitesse v Heerenveen
Michael’s prediction: Vitesse manager Henk Fraser announced his departure from the club over the winter break. I never like it when coaches do that. It sours the club for the rest of the season. Fraser claims the squad have reacted “professionally”, but come the last five or ten matches, I reckon he’ll find it a bit different. What a shame that such an exciting season has been let down by disappointment.
As for Saturday, Vitesse will want to keep it tight whilst Heerenveen will play an open game. Fraser is one for tactics, and I wonder if he’ll adjust. 3-1
Danique‘s prediction: Ooo… In that game, I think they will score a lot of goals. 3-3
Tip: Over 2.5 goals.
Sunday 21st January
Sparta v Excelsior
Michael’s prediction: A Rotterdam derby will spice up the relegation battle. A peek at the Eredivisie table gives grim reading to Sparta fans at the moment, but you must fancy Dick Advocaat to pull up a few trees before the end of the season.
He has a massive task at hand. A win here would be big progress and may begin to drag Excelsior into the mix too. 2-1
Danique‘s prediction: I think Sparta will win. They’re playing home and I think they’re a little bit better. 1-0
Tip: Both teams to score.
Willem II v Groningen
Michael’s prediction: A mid-table affair that could get tense with both of these teams looking over their shoulders.
I find it really tough to see where it’s going wrong at Groningen. I feel like the players (on paper) have some good quality but are simply not performing on the pitch.
It’s difficult to predict this one. But I will tip Willem II to edge this tie seeing as they tend to be quite a motivated team with more goals thanks to on form strikers. 2-1
Danique’s prediction: Groningen aren’t playing really well and I saw that Willem II have a couple of new players so hopefully they will play better. 2-2
Tip: Ogbeche or Sol to score.
Ajax v Feyenoord
Michael’s prediction: This game is a corker to start off the second half of the season. Myself, Michael Bell and James Rowe all talked at length about this game and in particular Erik Ten Hag’s arrival at Ajax in our newest podcast linked here:
I’m really excited, but I do feel as though Ajax will win. Ten Hag will give that extra little kick in training to make sure the overconfidence isn’t there given how poorly Feyenoord’s season has been at times and how comfortable the result was when Feyenoord lost at home to Ajax a few months back.
It is a special occasion for anyone who likes football and it will certainly be one to watch. 3-1
Danique‘s prediction: Oh my God! I hope that Feyenoord wins. I don’t support a club in the Netherlands, but my little neighbour is supporting Feyenoord. 1-2
Tip: Over 2.5 goals.
Heracles v PSV
Michael’s prediction: Heracles lost captain Joey Pelupessy to Sheffield Wednesday this week but will be fine come May. They will need a couple of nice additions in the summer, as their attack hasn’t been quite as dangerous this year, apart from fleeting moments of quality from Brandley Kuwas.
PSV will be in for quite the title race. They will win on Sunday to get the home run started. 1-3
Danique’s prediction: PSV aren’t playing really win but they’re always winning with a one goal difference, so I think they’re going to win. It’s hard because it’s the winter break, so I don’t know how clubs will come back! 1-2
Tip: PSV -1.5 Asian handicap.
Agree/disagree with our predictions and betting tips? Did we win/lose you a fortune? Tweet us!
How have Michael & Crypto done so far?
Crypto’s running success – Hit Rate: 60% & Average Odds: 1.70
Week 1: Michael: 3 results // Crypto: 5W – 3L – 1V (versus PSV-watcher and journalist Rik Elfrink)
Week 2: Michael: 7 results, 2 correct scores // Crypto: 6W – 1L – 2V (versus commentator Paul Thomas Clay)
Week 3: Michael: 6 results, 1 correct score // Crypto: 5W – 2L – 2V (versus [Ajax Daily] writer Alex Moretto)
Week 4: Michael: 4 results, 1 correct score // Crypto: 6W – 2L – 1V (versus Sky journalist Joshua Hayward)
Week 5: Michael: 2 results, 1 correct score // Crypto: 5W – 4L – 0V (versus commentator Richard Connelly)
Week 6: Michael: 1 result // Crypto: 4W – 5L – 0V (versus Football Manager researcher Jeroen Thijssen)
Week 7: Michael: 5 results // Crypto: 6W – 3L – 0V (versus Ajax Daily’s Bradley Dobson)
Week 8: Michael: 3 results, 1 correct score // Crypto: 5W – 2L – 2V (versus journalist Sjors van Veen)
Week 9: Michael: 2 results // Crypto: 4W – 4L – 1V (versus engels-voetbal’s Ferdi Delies)
Week 10: Michael: 4 results, 2 correct scores // Crypto: 3W – 6L – 0V (versus Sheffield Wednesday defender Joost van Aken)
Week 11: Michael: 3 results // Crypto: N/A (versus Football-Oranje editor Michael Bell)
Week 12: Michael: 3 results // Crypto: 7W – 1L – 1V (versus Opta Sports’ Bart Frouws)
Week 13: Michael: 7 results, 3 correct scores // Crypto: 6W – 3L – 0V (versus Football-Oranje writer James Rowe)
Week 14: Michael: 4 results // Crypto: 4W – 4L – 1V (versus Football-Oranje editor Michael Bell)
Week 15: Michael: 2 results *2 postponed* // Crypto: N/A (versus Ajax Daily’s Bradley Dobson)
Week 16: Michael: 3 results // Crypto: N/A (versus Dutch football writer Alex Dieker)
Week 17: Michael: 5 results // Crypto: N/A (versus [Ajax Daily] Alex Moretto)
Week 18: Michael: 4 results, 2 correct scores (versus Piłka w Holandii writer Adam Sankowski)
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Writer/interviewer/YouTuber for Football-Oranje. Massive Dutch football fan from the UK. Follow me @EredivisieMike & subscribe to Football-Oranje on YouTube.
