Oostende vs Club Brugge Predictions

Eighteen points and ten places separate Oostende and Club Brugge in the Belgian First Division A table, and the pair go head to head on Sunday to do battle over three more league points. Neither side head into the weekends game in the best of form and the hosts will hope that presents a more level playing field against one of the title challengers. The visitors lost last time out and being ten points behind the league leaders, Sunday’s game now feels like a must win for Club Brugge.

On Thursday night Oostende held Gent to a 2-2 draw in the 1st leg of their Belgium Cup tie, in what was an action packed, end to end, exciting ninety minutes. The hosts and favourites Gent took the lead in the twenty-third minute through Yaremchuk, but De Sutter equalised for Oostende just two minutes later. Gent had Ukrainian defender Plastun sent-off in the twenty-eighth minute and the hosts brought on Rosted to fill the void in defence. Just nine minutes into the second half and the hosts were reduced to nine men following substitute Rosted’s second bookable offence, but five minutes after that Oostende saw Nkaka sent-off after he picked up two yellow cards in the space of three minutes. Amazingly, the nine men of Gent took the lead in the seventy-sixth minute through Bronn, but just like they did in the first half Oostende responded well and levelled the match at 2-2 just a couple of minutes later when De Bock forced the ball home. The tie is set up nicely for Oostende to through to the final, especially as they have the home advantage in the deciding leg and know they guess will be without two of their centre backs through suspension.

Gent returned from the winter break a little flat footed and European hopefuls Sporting Charleroi took full advantage by picking up an unexpected three points at the Jan Breydelstadion. The visitors scored what turned out to be the winning goal in the seventeenth minute through defender Angella. Club Brugge had 58% of the overall possession during the ninety minutes, but didn’t do enough with the ball in the final third and when they did create a goal scoring opportunity their finishing lacked the precision needed. Brugge have had more time to prepare for this game and should have the edge in terms of fitness over Oostende due to their hosts cup participation, but their opponents will be buoyed by their result against Gent and could cause Club Brugge plenty of problems.

We’re backing Oostende with a double chance bet purely because they have the home advantage and appear to have returned from the winter break in better form than their guests. Losing at home to Sporting Charleroi when you are already trailing the league leaders is unacceptable for a team like Club Brugge and now they are ten points behind they might feel like they can’t catch their opponents and that could lead to another poor performance on Sunday. Oostende have scored in all of their last five matches, while Club Brugge have seen four of their last five games produce under 2.5 goals and have failed to score in three of those matches. Oostende only have one clean sheet in their last six so we are expecting both teams to score and the most likely result appears to be a 1-1 draw.

Brazil’s Fernando Canesin top scores for the hosts in the league with four goals, while Schrijvers has netted double that total for Brugge and both Wesley and Vanaken are on seven goals apiece. Club Brugge are the form favourites heading into the game, but have only won two, drawn two, and lost two of their last six competitive matches. We’re confident that Oostende can take something from Sunday’s game and have backed the hosts with a double chance bet, and for the game to end 1-1. Oostende will take a lot of positive from their midweek cup tie, while Club Brugge are going to be down after losing a home game that they really had to win, and we think that momentum will counteract the tired legs and see the game end in a draw, if Oostende don’t manage to pull off a surprise win.