Almere City FC vs FC Utrecht Reserves Predictions

Almere City square off against Jong Utrecht at Yanmar Stadion on match day five, with the hosts seeking a victory that could lift them into the Play-off positions.

Almere are 7^th in the table heading into Friday’s fixture, and one of a clutch of sides on seven points after two wins, one draw and one defeat from their opening four Eerste Divisie matches.

City should really have bagged a third win of the campaign at home to MVV last week, but Michele Santoni’s men were pegged back late on after Pieter Nys struck for the Maastricht outfit to earn a 2-2 draw.

It was a frustrating result for last season’s beaten Play-off finalists, but the visit of strugglers Jong Utrecht this Friday presents Schappenkoppen with the perfect opportunity to make amends and potentially move into the top five.

City have won their last three Eerste Divisie encounters against last season’s bottom side, including a 2-1 success here back in April, and anything less than a victory on Friday will be regarded as failure – despite the fact that Jong recorded their first win of the campaign on match day four.

Utrecht broke a run of three consecutive defeats to beat Jong PSV at Sportpark De Kalverhoek, as promising 19 year-old Nick Venema struck twice to seal the points in stoppage time.

The result lifted Jong to 16^th from the foot of the table, and boss Robin Pronk will now be keen to see his youthful side make further progress as they seek to improve upon their poor showing in 2017/18.

The win may only provide temporary respite however, considering they’ve never beaten Almere in competitive action, and they also have a trip to high flying Cambuur in the diary for match day six.

Aside from their 5-0 drubbing at Go Ahead Eagles on the opening night though, Jong Utrecht have been fairly competitive even in defeat this term, with their 1-2 loss against promotion favourites NEC a notable effort on match day two.

So whilst we expect Almere City to do the business here, it may not be quite as straightforward as their skinny odds suggest.

Almere have dominated the head to head between the sides but both teams have scored in each of their four Eerste Divisie meetings, so we’re adding that to our wager for Friday’s game. This adds a significant boost to the price for a home win, and it’s also worth noting that Jong found the net in 12 of their 19 away games last term, despite winning just once.

City have scored eight goals in their first four fixtures of the campaign, so we expect them to keep up their two goal average against the visitors, who’ve conceded 11 thus far in 2018/19. With that in mind we’re opting for a narrow 2-1 score line in favour of Almere in the correct score market.