On Friday, from 19:00, De Graafschap has a match on his own field with Jong Utrecht, in the 21st stage of the second Dutch league. The whites are the favorites on De Vijverberg Stadium.
De Graafschap is in duel with Cambuur for promotion in Eredivisie, and the blue-whites are on the 4th place at the moment (goal 41-19). With the best defense in the championship, Friday’s favorites have a seemingly easy match, in front of a team that produced surprises in the Eerste Division. Utrecht’s second team is in 12th place (goal 30-30) and seems to have escaped relegation.
Interestingly, both bands have recorded a lot of draws lately. De Graafschap made the same in the previous four championship stages, receiving a goal every time: 3-3 at Volendam, 2-2 with Telstar, 2-2 at Den Bosch and 1-1 with Go Ahead Eagles. Jong Utrecht lost to the Eagles last season (0-3), having drawn with Eindhoven FC (2-2) and Maastricht (1-1). Therefore, both rivals on Friday have defensive deficiencies lately, even though the statistics are partially hiding it. However, attackers Seuntjens and Hamdaoui should make a difference in favor of the better team.
But it is definitely the balance of the direct matches between the two. In the tour it was 2-2 in Utrecht, when the reds opened the score before the break, by the penalty of Arweiler (’32). Hamdaoui (’54) equaled for De Graafschap, but the same Arweiler scored again (’88), before van den Boomen (’90 +2) brought in the visitors’ point. Prior to this match, De Graafschap had won three of the previous four duels, with 7-0, 4-1 and 3-1. Therefore, in all the direct duels between these teams we have witnessed at least three goals scored, a denodamament that we can see realized again!
PREDICTION: Both teams to score / NO @ 1,82
