Almere City FC vs Jong AZ Prediction
Bottom-Of-The-Table Clash With Plenty Of Goals
Preview
Ag man, this is going to be a proper braai of a match! Two teams sitting at the bottom of the table with identical records - both stuck on 11 points and looking like they'd rather be having a beer than defending properly. Let me break it down for you.
Almere City FC might be 16th, but at home they're a different beast altogether. They've been banging in goals like there's no tomorrow - averaging 2.8 goals per game at home! Just look at their recent home performances: 4-0 against Jong Utrecht and 5-0 against FC Eindhoven. That's what I call proper football! They also managed to draw 1-1 against Cambuur (who's sitting pretty in 2nd place) and 2-2 with Vitesse. The problem is their away form is kak - 100% loss rate away from home.
Jong AZ, sitting just one spot below in 17th, have been slightly better overall with a 30% win rate compared to Almere's 20%. They recently smashed Willem II 4-0 at home, showing they can score when they want to. But away from home, they're averaging only 1.2 goals per game while conceding 1.6. Their recent away form shows they can both score and concede - losing 4-2 to Helmond Sport but winning 3-2 at Den Bosch.
Now here's the juicy part - the head-to-head tells us everything we need to know. These two teams have played 9 times, and get this: EIGHT of those matches went over 2.5 goals! That's 89% of the time! Seven of those nine saw both teams score. Almere has dominated at home too, winning 3 out of 4 home meetings.
Both teams are leaking goals like a sieve - Almere concedes 1.8 per game overall, Jong AZ 1.6. But both can also score. With Almere's home attack averaging nearly 3 goals per game and Jong AZ finding the net regularly on the road, this has "goals fest" written all over it.
The stats don't lie here - when these two meet, goals flow. Both are desperate for points and sitting near the bottom, so they'll likely go for it rather than sit back. Almere needs to make their home advantage count, and Jong AZ knows they need to score to get anything from this trip.