Ajax Reserves vs Almere City FC Predictions

Almere City responded to their first defeat under Ole Tobiasen with a battling 2-1 success over Jong PSV last week, and Schappenkoppen will be focused on finishing the regular season strongly here to ensure that they enter the Play-offs at the Second Round stage. Jong Ajax have remarkably won the last five meetings between the sides and are favourites to come out on top again this Friday, however we think that the visitors will show their class to record an eighth league victory in nine outings.

Indeed, the hosts’ status as odds-on jollies for this encounter is rather difficult to fathom, as they have picked up just one point from their last three league games whilst they have been successful in just two of their last nine at Sportpark De Toekomst.

They were taken apart 2-5 by champions Twente in Amsterdam on match day 37 and it was only a few weeks ago when they suffered an embarrassing 0-6 reverse at home to Cambuur. Michael Reiziger’s men boasted a strong record on their own turf for the first two thirds of the campaign, but there has been a significant drop off over the past couple of months which has ultimately seen Jong’s season fizzle out with a bit of a whimper.

Depending on this result and others elsewhere on the final evening, the defending champions will finish between 11^th and 13^th this time around and it’s hard to envisage Reiziger’s men being too motivated for the visit of a City outfit who are absolutely flying at present.

Schappenkoppen were dealt a shock 3-2 defeat at Dordrecht on Easter Monday but had previously won six league matches on the spin, and they responded to that disappointment by  beating 5^th placed Jong PSV last time out.

Almere need a point to guarantee a top six finish on Friday so that they avoid entering the Play-offs at the First Round phase, and we think that Ole Tobiasen’s charges will be fully tuned up for this contest in Amsterdam as they won’t want to take any chances.

The head to head stats between the teams are obviously a slight concern, but Jong Ajax should be nowhere near odds-on favourites for this fixture and we’re more than happy to get behind this thriving Almere City side at around 12/5, with a 1-2 correct score predicted.