Charleroi vs Anderlecht Predictions, Betting Tips and Match Previews

After losing to Antwerp in front of a home crowd on match-day one, Charleroi didn’t dwell on their undoing, they stepped forward and used that defeat as motivation ahead of their second fixture, a match that they won by four goals to one. With that pleasing win in the bag, Felice Mazzu’s men will be looking to gain another three points when they welcome Anderlecht to Stade du Pays de Charleroi on Sunday evening.

Losing to Antwerp first time up was hardly ideal, though it’s not like they were well beaten, nor did they fall apart. In a tight game, they were edged out by a team who’re quite good at getting results in such matches. What’s more, they bounced back last weekend with a confidence-boosting win, one that saw them score four goals. In fairness, Eupen are the sort of team who will concede lots of goals against most teams, though scoring four is impressive nonetheless.

On their own patch, Charleroi are not easy to beat. Home form was key to their relative success during the last campaign and if they achieve anything this time around it will likely be down to strong performances in front of their own fans. During the last regular campaign, Charleroi lost just twice on their own patch, while they scored in all but one of their 15 games at Stade du Pays de Charleroi.

It would be easy to assume that Anderlecht, based on their first two results in the league this season, will have things all their own way on Sunday, though it must be said that they’ve had the benefit of facing two of the worst defensive teams, so too much shouldn’t be read into those results, especially since Charleroi are no mugs.

The visitors do carry a threat and they ought to have it within them to score at least once on Sunday, even though Charleroi aren’t as open as many of the other teams in this division, although keeping a clean sheet could be difficult. Both their away match against Kortrijk and their home match against Oostende proved that Hein Vanhaezebrouck’s men can be got at. What’s more, keeping teams out on the road during the previous regular campaign was something that this team struggled with, as they kept a clean sheet in just three of their fifteen away games.

From a betting point of view, ‘Over 2.5 Goals & Both Teams to Score’ appears to offer a slice of value at the current prices. Neither side is short of forward quality, as the fact that they’ve scored 13 goals between them this season suggests, though as neither have managed to keep a clean sheet yet this season, they’re both susceptible to conceding goals. Backing both to get on the score-sheet in a relatively high-scoring game, as has happened in four of the last five renewals of this fixture, is the way to go.