Willem II vs NEC Betting Tips

Willem II have made an inconspicuous start to their 2014-15 campaign after finishing ninth in the Eredivisie last season. It’s difficult to know how to judge their start to the season, there’s no shame in draws with Vitesse and AZ, though neither side appears to be as strong this season. Their 3-0 defeat to Ajax in Amsterdam can pretty much be written off – that will happen to plenty of teams this season.

So it seems that Friday’s clash at home against newly promoted NEC might be one of our best early sighters when trying to judge this season’s edition of Willem II. They demonstrated against Alkmaar that they can lock a game down effectively when need be and there are already signs that this team might have actually improved defensively compared with last season’s squad. However, a top half finish will only be secured by beating teams like NEC and that can only happen if they find a way to create chances and score goals.

If Willem II are a bit of a mystery, we feel that we’ve picked up a fairly decent feel for what sort of side NEC are likely to be this season. They’ve played against the 14th and 15th placed teams from last season, beating Excelsior 1-0 at home, but losing 3-0 away at Heracles. Throw in a 2-0 defeat to Ajax, in which they performed admirably and it’s obvious that NEC will be finishing in the bottom couple of places, but with a real chance of avoiding relegation.

This side is still learning, but they are at least average in terms of their ability to play in possession and they’re a pretty organised unit.

Three Reasons for Betting Tips

1. It’s time for Willem II

This is still a pretty good football team and they’ve played against three of the division’s better teams – Vitesse, Ajax and AZ all finished in the top five last season. They’ll have a chance to score a first win playing in front of their home crowd on Friday and we don’t expect this team to make any mistakes.

2. NEC away form

NEC looked like a different team on the road playing against Heracles compared with each of their home performances (against Ajax and Excelsior). They set themselves up slightly differently and perhaps there is still some adjustment there in terms of getting into the pace and flow of top flight football.

3. Good odds

The home side finished ninth last season and is an experienced Dutch Eredivisie unit. NEC are playing on the Friday night stage for the first time ever and only got promoted to the division for this season. The odds on a Willem II victory are near even, you’d have gotten a lot better before the season opener and the hosts are still terrific value at that number in week 4.

Willem II 1-0 NEC

There won’t be many questions asked of Willem II in this game, but we don’t expect their attack to blow NEC away either.