Go Ahead Eagles vs Sparta Rotterdam Predictions

Go Ahead Eagles face off against Sparta Rotterdam at De Adelaarshorst this Friday night, in what easily looks to be the standout fixture of match day eight in Eerste Divisie. With both sides level at the top on 16 points after fantastic starts to the campaign, who can take the initiative here to potentially go clear in the race for automatic promotion?

Go Ahead and Sparta are in fact just two of four clubs sitting on 16 points after seven matches, however it’s hosts Go Ahead who lead the way narrowly on goal difference heading into this Friday’s crucial encounter.

The Deventer outfit have banged in 17 goals thus far for the concession of just seven, and they’ve really clicked into gear since appointing former Heracles manager John Stegeman in the summer, following their disastrous 17^th place finish last term.

However, there’s possibly a slight question mark over Go Ahead’s position in the table and whether they can sustain their results to be considered genuine promotion contenders.

Eagles have been impressive in all of their five wins to date (most notably in 5-0 and 3-0 home drubbings of Jong Utrecht and Volendam), but it’s worth noting that the teams they’ve beaten are all currently positioned 9^th or below in the table, with three of their five victims in the bottom four.

Go Ahead took a mini step towards cementing their credentials last weekend with a respectable 1-1 draw at 5^th placed NEC thanks to a second half equaliser from Paco van Moorsel, but the jury is still out on whether they have the overall quality to beat and fend off the main promotion candidates – like this week’s opponents Sparta.

Sparta really are the form team in the league in terms of results considering they slipped up on the opening night in a 2-1 defeat at Twente, so Henk Fraser’s men roll into Deventer unbeaten in their last six, with five of those outings of course being victories.

Their latest success was a 3-2 home triumph over Dordrecht last week, but they made hard work of things after finding themselves 1-2 down at the break. Second half goals from Royston Drenthe and Lars Veldwijk eventually secured the points for Rotterdam, but their performance continued their growing trend this term of being efficient rather than spectacular.

In fairness to Sparta though, those goals were only the third and fourth that they’ve conceded this season, after previously keeping five clean sheets on the bounce.

Unsurprisingly, they have the best defensive record in Eerste Divisie so far in 2018/19 as a result, but they’ll need to be switched on at De Adelaarshorst to blunt Go Ahead’s potent attack. Thomas Verheydt and Richard van der Venne have nine goals between them already for the hosts, and they’re just two danger men who Sparta need to watch out for.

We think this will be a really tight contest and a genuine test of both teams’ promotion credentials. It will be interesting to see whether the hosts really take the game Sparta and maintain their ultra-positive approach, and whether Sparta’s excellent rear guard can stand firm to potentially allow their creative players to pick off Eagles on the counter.

This should be a game to savour on match day eight, but we can’t split them based on what they’ve achieved so far this season. 1-1 for us in Deventer.