FC Utrecht Reserves vs Almere City FC Predictions

The recent dismissal of Michele Santoni has proved to be the right decision for Almere City, who have moved bang into contention for the Play-offs following three straight wins under the stewardship of new boss Ole Tobiasen. City swept aside second bottom Helmond Sport 3-0 on Monday to leap up to 6^th in the table, and this Friday they take on another struggling side in the shape of Jong Utrecht.

Goals from Alhaft, Hoeldraad and Mirani wrapped up a seamless victory for Almere at Yanmar Stadion on Monday, backing up impressive results against Oss (3-0) and Cambuur (0-1) at the end of March.

With the middle order in Eerste Divisie switching positions week after week, nothing is certain in the race for the Play-offs with six games still to play, but City now have a three point cushion over the teams placed 10^th and below and should book their spot soon considering they face three of the bottom five in April.

The first of those fixtures comes against Jong Utrecht this Friday evening, where Schappenkoppen will be long odds-on favourites to bag another important three points at Sportpark De Westmaat.

Jong turned in a much improved display against Roda JC on match day 32, but Robin Pronk’s young charges still left Kerkrade empty handed after going down 2-1.

Jong are now without a win in their last 14 league outings, of which they have lost 12, and they head into Friday’s game having lost their last seven matches at home by an aggregate score of 7-22.

You probably won’t be surprised to learn then that we’re tipping up Almere City here, especially as the visitors have never lost to Jong in seven previous meetings (W6, D1).

But the way in from a betting perspective is to back an Almere City win with both teams to score. Jong have scored in 12 of their last 13 home games, whilst City have only kept two clean sheets in their last 14 on the road. Both teams have scored in all of those aforementioned previous meetings including a 3-1 success for City in this season’s reverse fixture, so this looks like a really solid wager at odds far more attractive than what’s on offer in the match betting.

Whilst we expect Jong to typically grab their goal, this should pan out quite easily for City over the course of the 90 minutes, so we’re predicting a 1-4 correct score alongside our main bet.