Sparta Rotterdam vs Cambuur Leeuwarden Predictions

Goals from Royston Drenthe and Lars Veldwijk earned Sparta Rotterdam a dramatic 2-2 draw at Go Ahead Eagles last week to extend their unbeaten streak in the league to seven matches. Henk Fraser’s side are joint 2^nd in the table and in good shape heading into match day nine, where they’ll be strong favourites to enhance their 100% home record against 6^th placed Cambuur.

Sparta’s only defeat this term came at Twente on the opening night of the season, and five wins and two draws since has left the Rotterdam outfit bang in contention for a return to Eredivisie at the first time of asking.

As expected, they’ve been extremely strong at Het Kasteel, beating Volendam, FC Eindhoven and Den Bosch by a 2-0 score line, and they got the job done with a 3-2 victory against Dordrecht last time out at home a fortnight ago.

With a 100% record in tact in front of their own supporters, Sparta look strong favourites to land the spoils this weekend against a Cambuur side who’ve faltered badly of late.

After a disappointing 0-0 stalemate at Jong Utrecht on match day six, Rene Hake’s men have been beaten by Roda JC (0-1) and Dordrecht (3-2) in the last two weeks and have fallen out of the top five as a result.

Last week’s effort against Eerste Divisie’s bottom side was especially poor, and it’s hard to see how the Leeuwarden outfit can bounce back here in Rotterdam.

Cambuur weren’t rated amongst the favourites for automatic promotion pre-season and their hopes of challenging are fading fast despite their initial strong start which saw them briefly lead the way. Defeat at Het Kasteel could leave them eight points off the pace and that’s a gap that they surely won’t be able to bridge.

The only recent meeting between these teams was a summer friendly which Cambuur won 0-2, but we envisage a different result here with Sparta looking formidable at home and the visitors in the midst of a difficult period.

Cambuur are likely to turn in a better display than last week and will certainly be no push overs for Sparta, but the hosts are impossible to oppose based on what we’ve seen of them at Het Kasteel thus far.

Nothing fancy here for us in this one in terms of our main wager – we’re simply playing with a straight bat and confidently recommending Sparta to land the three points, a result which could see Henk Fraser’s side take over at the top of the league come the end of the weekend. Rotterdam have won three of their four home games this season without conceding, so we’re also backing a 2-0 correct score.