Oostende vs Mouscron-Peruwelz Predictions, Betting Tips and Match Previews

Oostende will be looking to make a winning start to the new campaign by beating Mouscron for the first time in three renewals of this fixture when the pair meet at Versluys Arena on Saturday evening.

Last season started well for Oostende, though their attempts to lay down a challenge for a place in the top six quickly petered out. Despite being useful at both ends of pitch, Saturday’s hosts eventually slumped to a mid-table finish, while their efforts once the league split into three weren’t much better either, as they could only manage to finish fourth of six in their final group. New manager Gert Verheyen will be hoping to take the club forward this season.

New striker Sindrit Guri, will be hoping to add more goals for Verheyen’s men, who scored 22 goals in ten matches in Europa League Group B at the end of the last campaign, while new defence-minded players such as Jordi Vanlerberghe and Wout Faes, who’ve joined from Club Brugge and Anderlecht respectively, will be hoping to make Oostende a sturdier unit.

In truth, Oostende were very hit and miss last season; at times they were good, they scored goals and they won games, though at other times, even when scoring, they were far too open. Fortunately for the hosts, they’re facing a Mouscron team who’ve been famously poor at the back in recent times, so they should fancy themselves to outscore their opponents in this opening fixture.

On their own patch, Oostende often found goals easy to come by last season, as they scored 24 in 15 games at home before the league split, notching at least twice on nine occasions, while they also scored an impressive 12 in six home Europa League play-off matches, notching twice in four of those. If they can re-find that form here, then the visitors may be in for a tough evening at the back.

If the hosts didn’t exactly shine last season, then neither did Mouscron, who finished the regular season six points behind Oostende, though they did eventually improve once the league split, as Frank Defays’ men finished third in Europa League A, scoring a respectable 18 goals in ten matches. However, defending was a problem throughout the last campaign, so they’ll be attempting to do better in that respect this season. For the sake of their fans, who witness their team ship 75 goals in 40 matches last season, hopefully new additions Jesus Marimon and Aleksa Damjanac can help to strengthen things defensively.

While Oostende often thrived in the final third at home, Mouscron often found themselves in a pickle defensively when playing away from home. During the regular season, Saturday’s visitors conceded at least twice in eight of their 15 matches on the road, while they continued to struggle at the back once the league split, conceding at least three goals in three of their five away games, shipping a total of 12 in those five.

Taking into consideration just how poor the visitors were on the travels last season, coupled with both the fact that they’re coming into this game having just shipped five in a friendly against Genk, plus the fact that Oostende tended to score plenty of goals against the weaker teams at home last season, the bet that stands out is ‘Oostende to Score Over 1.5 Goals’.