Ajax vs Standard Liege Predictions, Betting Tips, & Match Preview

Ajax had an uncharacteristically poor start to their 2016/2017 campaign after their failure to claim the Eredivisie title on the final day last season. New coach Peter Bosz has, however, began to settle down and make amends since their consequent knockout from the UEFA Champions League at the end of August. Ajax come into this off the back of six consecutive competitive wins (four Eredivisie, one Europa League and one Dutch Cup win) which has seen them save face and push themselves up to 2nd in the Eredivisie. They have, however, still got plenty of work to do domestically, trailing five points behind league leaders Feyenoord. Ajax should be in high spirits as their opening 2-1 win away to Panathinaikos sees them standing top of the group coming into this.

Standard Liege should be content enough with their 1-1 draw at home to Celta de Vigo in their opening group stage match, especially after just missing out on the group stages last season. Facing Ajax on the road is, arguably, the toughest fixture of the group, however, so the Belgians should just be looking to take away any consolation from this match. Standard Liege are in decent form in the Belgian Pro League, standing in third place as one of four teams on fifteen points, and are unbeaten in five matches domestically, winning all three of their most recent matches (W3 D2).

Ajax’s return to form sees them as the bookies’ favourites for this match at 11/20. While we’re definitely inclined to agree with them on Ajax, we feel there’s better value than on just an outright home win. Ajax are seemingly “making up” for their earlier form with plenty of goals in recent matches. Ajax have scored ten goals in their last two matches (one 5-0 win and one 5-1 win) and are averaging three goals per match scored over their last six wins. Meanwhile, while Liege aren’t exactly pushovers, they have struggled with midweek Europa League away matches in recent years, losing six of their last seven under that criteria.

As such, Ajax to win and over 2.5 goals scored at 6/4 and Ajax to win 3-1 at 12/1 are our choice bets for this match.