Excelsior vs Groningen Predictions

Excelsior suffered a heavy defeat away at newly promoted De Graafschap last weekend and will be looking to make amends for that poor performance by taking all three points at home to Groningen on Friday. The visitors remain bottom of the table after narrowly being beaten by league leaders PSV 2-1 at home, and have only managed to pick up four points from their opening ten Eredivisie matches this season.

The two teams went in level at the break when De Graafschap played host to Excelsior, with the home side taking the lead in the twenty-fifth minute through van Mieghem only to see that goal cancelled out by an Ómarsson equaliser in the thirty-eighth minute.

Narsingh restored the hosts lead just five minutes after the restart for the second half and went 3-1 up through El Jebli five minutes later. Excelsior needed to score next, but instead they had centre back Mattheij sent-off following a second bookable offence, and along with the 25-year old went the visitors chances of taking something from the match.

Serrarens added a fourth and final goal for the hosts in the seventieth minute to wrap up a 4-1 win, but in truth the final score was a little harsh on Excelsior who certainly created more chances than their hosts and even after going down to ten men had 55% of the overall possession.

Messaoud top scores for Excelsior this season with three league goals to his name, while teammates Bruins, Mahmudov, Mattheij, and Ómarsson are amongst the players on two goals apiece. Groningen are yet to produce a single player this season with more than one league goal to their name following what has been a dreadful start to the campaign.

Many expected Groningen to get well beaten by PSV last weekend, but the hosts almost lead at the break following Memišević’s forty-second minute penalty. However, the champions elect equalised in first half stoppage time through Malen and the teams went in level at the break 1-1.

PSV created more chances than Groningen in the second half, but not many, and were made to wait until four minutes from time before full back Dumfries scored the goal that earned PSV all three point and extended their 100% start to the season.

If Groningen can put in a similar performance on Friday to they one that saw them narrowly beaten by PSV then they will stand a chance of taking something from the game, but its more likely that the visitors raised their game against PSV and will fall to another, more convincing, defeat at the hands of Excelsior.

We’re confident that Excelsior will beat Groningen on Friday, and that the scoreline will end 2-0. Excelsior have won three of the last five meetings with Groningen and only lost once during that period. Excelsior have won two of their last four Eredivisie games, while Groningen have lost five of their last six in league and cup, and that’s why we expect the home side to be victorious on Friday night.