Almere City FC vs AZ Alkmaar Predictions

• AZ finished 31 points above Almere last season.
• Almere failed to win any of their final 12 games (D7, L5).
• The visitors won four of their final five games and impressed in pre-season (W6, D2).

AZ can hit the ground running

AZ Alkmaar head to Almere in the opening round of Eredivisie games and these sides have very different aims for the season ahead.

The visitors will be targeting the top three after missing out on Champions League football by just four points last term, while survival will be the goal for Almere after they came in 13th last year in their first season back in the top flight following promotion.

The hosts haven’t won a competitive game since February – a run stretching 12 games – but they did draw seven times during that winless run.

De Zwarte Schapen may be tough to break down but AZ look like they’re flying into the new campaign. They won four of their final five games last season, with one draw, and came through pre-season unbeaten (W6. D2).

Backing AZ to cover a -1 handicap is of interest, but I’m going to stick with a straightforward away win as the main tip here as Almere can be tough to break down and they did manage to hold AZ to a bore draw at this ground when these sides last met in February – although Alkmaar did dominate that game and on another day might have won.

A 2-0 win for the visitors is the correct score prediction as Almere were among the lowest scorers in the division last term, only bottom club Vitesse scored fewer than their 33 goals – and AZ averaged just over two goals per-game.