Cambuur Leeuwarden vs Ajax Reserves Predictions

Two sides struggling for form clash at Cambuurstadion this Friday as Cambuur entertain reigning Eerste Divisie champions Jong Ajax. The visitors have been particularly inconsistent this term in defence of their title, but will hope to kick start their campaign on match day 12 against a side they’ve beaten in the last five encounters between the teams. Hosts Cambuur will have other ideas as they seek to get over a miserable run of results.

It’s getting harder by the week to predict which version of Jong Ajax will turn up come match day – Michael Reiziger’s side have suffered four defeats in their last six outings with two of those coming against teams situated in the bottom third of the table.

The latest disappointment for Jong came last week as they were beaten 3-1 at Volendam, taking their already poor away record this term to one win, one draw and four losses from half a dozen starts.

Jong were excellent on the road last season en route to the title, winning 12 of their 19 fixtures, but they’ve been a shadow of themselves this time around.

Reiziger’s men are still doing the business regularly in Amsterdam with four wins from five at Sportpark De Toekomst, but that good work has been truly undone by their travel problems which is the reason they’re 9^th and 10 points behind leaders Go Ahead Eagles.

It makes their status as favourites for this Friday’s clash with Cambuur a little difficult to fathom, although it’s worth noting that Jong have dominated Cambuur in the head to head, winning all five previous fixtures between the pair including a 1-2 victory at Cambuurstadion in 2017/18.

Cambuur have been impressive at home though in the current campaign, racking up four wins from five in Leeuwarden, including a 3-1 success over Helmond Sport a fortnight ago.

However, that was Cambuur’s only win in their last five Eerste Divisie outings, and Rene Hake’s side have slumped to 8^th in the table having initially been up with the pace.

Their 2-0 defeat away to Go Ahead last week can probably be excused when you factor in how strong Eagles have been this season, but the manner of their losses on match days eight (3-1 vs Dordrecht) and nine (3-0 vs Sparta Rotterdam) remain a concern in terms of backing Cambuur for the time being.

So with a less than compelling case made for both teams in this one, we’ll focus on goals instead and back over 2.5 with both teams to score this Friday.

There have been three goals or more in each of Jong’s last five fixtures and in four of Cambuur’s last five outings, whilst both teams have kept a clean sheet in just 27% of their matches this season. Furthermore, this bet landed in all five previous meetings between the sides.

Everything looks set fair then for an entertaining encounter in Leeuwarden, and for an additional play in the correct score market, we’re going for a 3-2 victory in favour of the hosts.