Utrecht vs NAC Breda Predictions

The ten-men of Utrecht claimed a point away at Groningen last weekend, but still sit in the relegation zone after seven games. On Friday Utrecht have the home advantage against a Breda side that lost their sixth game of the season at home to PSV last weekend and currently sit bottom of the Eredivisie table with just three points to their name.

Utrecht looked void of ideas in the final third against Groningen, as the visitors only managed a draw, despite leading at the half time interval. Utrecht have only scored more than one goal in one of their Eredivisie goals this season, so when van de Streek opened the scoring against Groningen, the visiting fans may well have started to believe that their side had turned a corner.

However, Utrecht only had one more shots on target in Groningen and eventually surrendered their lead to a seventy-sixth minute goal from substitute Mendes Moreira, but not before Swedish forward Simon Gustafson was shown a red card ten minutes earlier. The game finished 1-1 as Groningen failed to capitalise on their one-man advantage, but despite taking a point, Utrecht will also be disappointed by their lack of creativity and finishing in the final third against one of the teams expected to be in the mix at the bottom of the table come the business end of the season.

That goal for van de Streek took the Dutchman onto two league goals for the season, making the midfielder the only player in the Utrecht camp to have scored more than once in the league this season. Breda’s te Vrede has netted three times so far this season, despite his team sitting bottom of the table with one win and six defeats from their opening seven matches.

PSV made the trip to Breda last weekend and were expected to dominate the game and come away with three points, which they did. The visitors had 60% of the overall possession and ten corners to the home sides four, but with just three shots on target the reigning Eredivisie champions had a bit of an off day in front of goal.

The first half ended goalless and at that point I’m sure the Breda fans and players started to believe they might get something out of this game, but their hopes were dashed just two minutes after the restart when de Jong made it 1-0 to the visitors. PSV didn’t seal their victory until the second minute of stoppage time when substitute Malen made it 2-0, and Breda will take solace in the fact they were able to keep the league leaders quiet for the majority of the match.

With both teams playing poorly and having trouble scoring many goals in the early stages of the new season we’re expecting a tight and tense game this weekend, with the chances of either side scoring more than one goal appearing very unlikely.

We’re confident that both teams will get on the scoreboard this weekend, but have backed the game to end in a 1-1 draw. Both teams have scored in each of the last six meetings between Utrecht and Breda. Both teams have scored in four of Utrecht’s last six matches, and three of the hosts last six matches have ended 1-1. Breda have a good record against Utrecht and currently three games unbeaten against Friday’s hosts and we expect that run to continue.