Read our prediction for Graafschap vs Jong Utrecht below. This preview was written by a sport journalist who is specialised in betting tips and predictions. Use our betting tips for the match between Graafschap vs Jong Utrecht and you can increase your winnings!
Graafschap vs Jong Utrecht Prediction & Betting tips
De Graafschap burns with ambition but still struggles to live up to the high expectations. The Superboeren booked a crucial victory in Maastricht last week and now hope to continue for their own audience. The match against Jong FC Utrecht simply has to be won.
Graafschap :
De Graafschap seemed to quickly set things up after the weak start of the season to enter the top five of the Jupiler League, but the really dramatic form around the turn of the year threw a spanner in the works. At the beginning of December the Superboeren lost a visit to Almere City and from the four games that followed, only one point was gathered. At home, 1-1 was played against FC Oss, but then the formation of coach Henk de Jong pulled out against Telstar, SC Cambuur and Jong PSV. Striking is that three times a 2-3 final score appeared on the board.
Last week, the team from Doetinchem recovered by winning MVV. The showdown with the people from Maastricht seemed to be a tough job in advance, but nothing turned out to be less true. Sjoerd Ars had already set the score to 0-2 after 34 minutes of football and that’s how the visitors seemed to have an easy evening. Jonathan Okita did something back for the hosts, but Fabian Serrarens recovered the large margin before the break. After tea, there were no more goals from both sides and De Graafschap won a crucial victory that ended the mini-crisis.
The match against Young FC Utrecht now offers De Graafschap an ideal chance to work on self-confidence and De Jong will be satisfied with nothing less than a (convincing) victory. On Friday night the fans will discover a new face on the Vijverberg. Tarik Tissoudali, who hardly came into action for VVV-Venlo before the winter break, is hired for the rest of the season from Le Havre and he is expected immediately in the basic set-up. This is partly due to the fact that Ars and Anthony van den Hurk are not available due to injuries. Serrarens will therefore act as a spire.
Jong Utrecht:
Young FC Utrecht is currently the ugly duckling of Dutch professional football. The youngsters of the local FC managed last season to keep Achilles ’29 and FC Dordrecht under their control, but this year there will have to be a small miracle to keep the team of trainer Robin Pronk in last place. The current form can rightfully be called dramatic and that is actually still an understatement. The men of Pronk, who are currently in the last place, are already looking at a seven-point deficit against the generation of Jong AZ Alkmaar and the gap with number eighteen Helmond Sport has even grown to nine points. In short, doom and gloom at Jong FC Utrecht and a view of better times is not there.
The current form is not to write home about. At the end of October last year, MVV Maastricht was won for its own public, but after that it did not manage to win the team. There followed eleven defeats and a draw and that caused disappointing statistics. For example, in the last ten games, Jong FC Utrecht scored only six goals and only managed to keep zero against Go Ahead Eagles (0-0). The lack of goals is the Achilles heel of this team all season. For example, in the 22 games played, only 18 goals were produced.
Last week, it went wrong again for Jong FC Utrecht in the home match against SC Cambuur. The hosts played well with the Frisians for about 25 minutes, but then fate struck hard. In a time span of two minutes, Cambuur had scored 0-2 on the board with goals from Nigel Robertha and Martijn Barto. Later the tension came back when Nick Venema hit the spot from the spot, but Cambuur reacted almost immediately. Darren Rosheuvel recovered margin from two goals and then the visitors played the game well. Young FC Utrecht will now concentrate on the showdown with De Graafschap and it is clear beforehand that the visitors will have to produce something special to prevent the seventeenth defeat of the season.
Graafschap vs Jong Utrecht head to head matches
15.09.17 EER Jong Utrecht Graafschap 1 : 4
30.01.17 EER Jong Utrecht Graafschap 3 : 2
19.08.16 EER Graafschap Jong Utrecht 3 : 1