Roda JC vs Twente Predictions

Twente left it extremely late, but a stoppage time penalty from Aitor Cantalapiedra was ultimately enough to secure a 1-0 success over FC Eindhoven last Friday, notching up a tenth win on the bounce for Marino Pusic’s side in Eerste Divisie. With a huge eleven point advantage over their nearest rivals, the Enschede club should now clinch the title, barring a major disaster, and they’ll fancy their chances of solidifying their position further this week when they take on Roda JC at Parkstad Limburg Stadion.

Twente breezed through August’s reverse fixture 3-1 thanks to goals from Tim Holscher, Tom Boere and Ulrich Bapoh – a result which affirmed the club’s dominance over Roda JC in recent times.

The Enschede outfit have won nine and drawn three of the last 12 meetings between the teams, and you have to go back to August 2011 for Roda’s last victory in this match-up.

So the head to head suggests that things don’t bode particularly well for Roda heading into this Friday’s fixture in Kerkrade, and that’s before we even factor in the differences between the sides this season in terms of performances and results.

The teams were in fairly close proximity in the league table up until the end of November, and there’s no doubting that Twente were looking pretty shaky after losing five of their first 16 games in the second tier.

But Twente have since racked up a remarkable ten wins from ten to burst clear at the top of the division, whilst Roda have amassed just 15 points from a possible 30 to drop completely out of the title picture.

Roda are still 6^th in the standings and appear near certainties to finish in the Play-off places, but they have persistently struggled to land a blow against the teams above them this term.

Robert Molenaar’s side have won one, drawn three and lost four of their eight matches thus far against top five opposition, and although they battled back well last week to come away from De Herdgang with a 2-2 draw against 5^th placed Jong PSV, they will need to step up significantly here against the rampant visitors who have notched comfortable wins against Jong (0-2) and 2^nd placed Sparta Rotterdam (0-3) in recent weeks.

Roda have been impressive at home overall this season and go into Friday’s contest having won six of their last eight outings in Kerkrade, but Twente won’t be feeling any fear, based on their current run and the fact that they have triumphed in eight of their last nine games on the road – keeping clean sheets in four of their last five.

So although we expect Roda to push the champions elect, we’re backing Marino Pusic’s men to bank their 11^th win in succession and potentially extend their lead at the top of Eerste Divisie come the end of match day 27. Although Twente’s rear guard has been miserly on their travels, we think that Roda may get on the score-sheet here as they have only failed to score in one of their 13 home matches this term. We don’t fancy that enough to combine it with our match bet, but we are opting for a 1-2 correct score in favour of the visitors alongside our main wager.