AZ Reserves vs FC Eindhoven Predictions

Jong AZ slumped to a 5-0 defeat at Sparta Rotterdam last week, and finally dropped to the bottom of Eerste Divisie with their winless run now standing at 13 games. They’ll need some kind of positive result this week if they are to potentially move off the foot of the table heading into the Christmas period, and the bookmakers give them a fair chance of doing so against 16^th placed FC Eindhoven who lost 1-3 at home to RKC on match day 18.

Jong AZ turned in some promising performances in the opening weeks of the season and even managed to beat current 3^rd placed side Go Ahead Eagles 3-2 on match day 5, but there has been little to shout about since for the AZ reserves.

That victory over Eagles is their only success of the campaign to date and Jong are now winless in 13 matches after suffering a 5-0 thumping at leaders Sparta Rotterdam last week.

It marked Jong’s sixth defeat in seven league fixtures, and Michel Vonk’s men have now dropped to the foot of the Eerste Divisie table where they sit level on points with Helmond Sport.

AZ Alkmaar are currently around 20 points adrift of big guns PSV and Ajax in Eredivisie so it’s perhaps no surprise that their reserve outfit are a similar distance behind Jong PSV and Jong Ajax in the second tier, and they are showing week after week that they simply don’t have the quality to compete with the majority of sides in Eerste Divisie.

On paper, this week’s fixture against FC Eindhoven is one of the few realistic opportunities for Jong to pick up some points and they did manage to beat Blauw-witten 1-3 in Eindhoven when the teams last met in February.

Nonetheless, Eindhoven will themselves view this contest as must win and a decent chance to bounce back after a disappointing 1-3 reversal at home to RKC last week.

Eindhoven had been in good nick prior to last week having gained three wins and a draw from their previous four matches – and that run crucially put some daylight between themselves and the likes of Jong AZ and Helmond who bring up the rear as we reach the halfway point in the regular season.

With four wins and a draw from nine games on the road, Eindhoven possess the best away record in the bottom half of the table and a return to the form of their 1-3 success against Cambuur at the end of November should see them through in this one.

Jong have in contrast scraped just six points together from nine outings at AFAS Stadion, so with the bookies odds about level for this pair, the only logical choice here is to back David Nascimento’s side for the win and we’re going for a 1-2 scoreline at full time.