Almere City FC vs Go Ahead Eagles Predictions

Almere City vs Go Ahead Eagles is undoubtedly the standout fixture of match day ten, as two of the three clubs currently co-leading Eerste Divisie go head to head at Yanmar Stadion. After a disappointing 2-2 draw away at Volendam last week, Almere were joined at the top of the table by Sparta Rotterdam and Go Ahead, who ran out convincing 3-0 winners against Roda JC.  Can Eagles soar again this week, or will Almere City reclaim pole position in the race for promotion?

There’s no question that Almere City deserve to be sharing the lead in Eerste Divisie after racking up a sequence of five straight victories between match day’s five and nine, but Michele Santoni’s side will know that they missed a real opportunity to keep their winning streak going at Volendam last week.

City looked on course for the points after Kevin Luckassen and James Elmorfidis overturned a 1-0 deficit late into the second half, but Santoni’s men came unstuck as Nick Doodeman equalised for the hosts at the death with his second goal of the game.

Almere know that they should’ve beaten a team who’d only managed to win one league game heading into the fixture, but they return to Yanmar Stadion this week favourites to regain the winning thread.

City are rock solid at home – they accrued an average of two points per league game last term and are hitting the same ratio this season with 10 points gained from five outings. They beat Go Ahead 2-0 in front of their own supporters in 2017/18, but Almere know they face a completely different challenge this time around.

Go Ahead finished 17^th and out with the washing last term but continue to be a revelation under boss John Stegeman who joined in the summer.

They left it late at home to Roda JC last week, but in the end triumphed comfortably 3-0 courtesy of a goal from Thomas Verheydt and a double salvo from Paco van Moorsel.

The win took their points tally at De Adelaarshorst this season to 13 from a possible 15, and Eagles will now look to maintain the same consistency away from home having failed to win their last two outings on the road (1-1 vs NEC, 3-2 vs Jong AZ).

Those results suggest that Eagles could be vulnerable in this contest, but overall this fixture looks too tight to call based on the teams’ 66% win ratios and identical records.

Instead, we’re taking an interest in the combined total goals/both teams to score market and playing things relatively safe.

Eight of nine Go Ahead games this season have finished with over 2.5 goals, and that’s also been a feature in seven of Almere’s nine outings.

With the teams currently scoring at a rate of over two goals per game, we’re confident this encounter will be end to end and will finish with at least three goals netted and both teams on the score sheet.

That’s our main recommended wager and we’re also taking a poke at 2-2 for small stakes in the correct score market.