Almere City FC vs PSV Reserves Predictions

This is one of the standout games in the penultimate round of Eerste Divisie fixtures this season, as Almere City and Jong PSV battle it out for 4^th place at Yanmar Stadion. The hosts have been a revelation of late and racked up a sequence of six straight wins prior to Monday’s shock 3-2 defeat at Dordrecht, whilst Jong PSV rediscovered their best form last time out with a 2-0 home victory against Sparta. Both sides should be going at this with the shackles off and we could see plenty of goals again following a seven goal thriller at De Herdgang in December’s reverse contest.

Almere City were well below par against Dordrecht at Riwal Hoogwerkers Stadion on Monday and found themselves 3-0 down to Claudio Braga’s side with half an hour to play.

Schappenkoppen fought back in the final third of the match but ultimately went down 3-2, and the result will disappoint boss Ole Tobiasen after previously steering his charges to a remarkable six league victories on the spin.

That run has been decisive in confirming a Play-off place for City, who will go into May’s promotion shoot-out with a real chance if they put their best foot forward. They will definitely be looking to respond to Monday’s defeat here though against Jong PSV, with the winners then likely to secure a 4^th place finish on 3^rd May.

City are rightfully favourites here based on recent form and they have won their last four at Yanmar Stadion, following a cosy 2-0 success against Telstar last Friday. Nonetheless, Jong PSV will be the toughest opponents that they have encountered at home for some time, and it’s worth remembering that Jong powered to a 5-2 triumph in December’s reverse fixture.

Jong have been going through a bit of a sticky patch lately with four defeats suffered in their last eight league games – though they turned in one of their best displays of the season on Monday to beat 2^nd placed Sparta Rotterdam 2-0 in Eindhoven.

That result will give Dennis Haar’s side plenty of confidence going into this Friday’s clash, however Jong have found life extremely challenging on the road of late with three defeats in their last five away.

With the visitors struggling on their travels and City firing on all cylinders at home, we just fancy Tobiasen’s side to come through this but we are expecting a high scoring affair.

15 goals have been netted in the last three meetings and backing a home win this week with both teams to score looks a fantastic wager at the prices. Almere have bagged 12 in their last five outings whilst Jong are the joint top scorers in the second tier this term – stats which further enhance the cause.

In terms of the correct score market, we wouldn’t deter punters from a number of more extravagant picks but we’re settling on 3-2 in favour of the hosts.