RKC vs FC Den Bosch Predictions

It seems almost cruel that Den Bosch lost the Eerste Divisie lead on match day 22 after their outstanding 16 match unbeaten run finally came to an end. The Blue White Dragons went down 2-0 at FC Eindhoven, and they must now dig very deep in what is fast becoming a two horse race with Twente for automatic promotion to Eredivisie. An away fixture this Friday against an RKC side that have won five of their last six is not exactly what the doctor ordered for Wil Boessen’s men, but how will they get on in Waalwijk?

Den Bosch have been the stand out team for many in the Dutch second tier this term, racking up an eight match winning sequence towards the end of 2018 before going another eight fixtures without loss.

But former Eredivisie champions Twente have been clinging onto their coat tails for some time now, and the Enschede outfit have well and truly come up on the blindside with six straight league wins to take over at the top of the table.

Den Bosch were extremely flat at Jan Louwers Stadion last week with improving FC Eindhoven fully deserving of their 2-0 win, and the true mark of champions will now be tested as The Blue White Dragons aim to immediately hit back.

The standings tell us that they should be favourites on match day 23 as they hold a 14 point advantage over Play-off chasing RKC who are 10^th, but Fred Grim’s charges are flying at present after securing a fifth win in six against Jong Utrecht on Monday.

After smashing in 13 goals in their previous five matches, Waalwijk demonstrated battling qualities as opposed to brilliance to nab a 1-2 success over Robin Pronk’s whipping boys, but neither Grim or his players will care as they continue to progress with purpose into the top half.

They’ll be looking forward to returning home this Friday where they’ve won three of their last four including a resounding 4-1 victory over defending champions Jong Ajax a fortnight ago, and Den Bosch face a major test having only managed one win from their last four on the road.

A 2-3 triumph in s-Hertogenbosch on match day 2 will give the hosts further confidence heading into this fixture and they haven’t been beaten by Den Bosch since November 2016.

So although RKC still have to prove that they can mix it with the teams towards the head of affairs in Eerste Divisie, they’re hard to bet against in this one, especially with home advantage.

We’re not writing Den Bosch off though after just one defeat, and they can scrap their way to a valuable point in Waalwijk – a result which would probably satisfy both teams. 26 previous meetings between the pair have yielded 12 draws, and this further points us in the direction of a stalemate this Friday.

This is arguably the pick of the week’s matches on paper and we expect it to be an intriguing contest, with 1-1 our predicted scoreline at full time.