FC Groningen vs Roda JC Predictions, Betting Tips and Match Previews

Can Struggling Roda claim their second league win of the season at Groningen on Friday night? The opening Eredivisie match of the weekend pits the second bottom side away to mid-table opposition. They’re hoping to claim a much needed win, and move away from the relegation zone. As things stand, they are currently second from bottom in the Dutch top flight.

That’s despite going unbeaten in their last seven games. Even after that good run of form, they have 12 points from 15 matches in the Eredivisie. They may have picked up the majority of points in recent weeks, but that run isn’t going to be enough to save them. While going seven without a loss is a strong record, they have to start winning games. Will they be able to finally do that at Groningen?

Given that Roda have drawn their last six, it’s easy to see what their problem is. They can defend well and they manage to stay in games, they just aren’t scoring enough to get victories on the board. That’s backed up by the fact that they’ve averaged just 0.53 goals per game in the Eredivisie this season, while they conceded just over a goal in return.

Roda have been defensively strong of late, having kept three clean sheets in their last five matches. That includes shutting out champions PSV last weekend. That was an impressive result, seeing as the Dutch giants have averaged two goals per match on the road this season. Ahead of their trip this weekend, De Koempels also have a strong away defensive record, they’ve conceded in just one of their last four league matches on their travels.

That should make things difficult for Groningen here, as they’re far from clinical. They’ve averaged over 14 chances per game at home, of which just 7% hit the back of the net. The visitors see just 7% of the shots they face find the net away from home, so we’re unlikely to see the hosts getting much joy going forward.

However, Roda have scored from just 6% of their attempts this season away from home. Roda may have kept clean sheets in 50% of their trips, but they’ve failed to score in 60% of games on the road. Their opponents’ record here is only a little better, they’ve failed to score in 43% of their outings at the Noordlease Stadion.

When you take those statistics into account, it’s hardly surprising that these two aren’t usually involved in high scoring games. Just 53% of Groningen’s matches this term have seen more than two goals scored, while just 27% of Roda’s games have gone over 2.5 goals. The away side have seen two goals or fewer scored in seven of their last eight Eredivisie games, so we can’t see this clash being a high scoring affair. We’re going with under 2.5 goals in this one, which is priced at 19/20 with bet365.