Fortuna Sittard vs Utrecht Predictions

Fortuna Sittard started life back in the top flight of Dutch football with a decent point on the road against Excelsior, but two defeats have followed and Saturday’s hosts are now under no illusions as to the difficulty of the task they face in surviving in the Eredivisie this season. On Utrecht provide the opposition this weekend and the visitors have reacted well to their opening day defeat against PSV with a win and a draw in their last two league games.

Fortuna Sittard had the lion’s share of the possession, 54%, when they travelled to Den Haag last weekend, but ended up on the wrong end of a 3-1 scoreline. A twenty-first minute strike from Lorenzen saw the hosts take the lead, and Den Haag went in at the break with a commanding two goal advantage El Khayati converted a forty-second minute penalty.

If Fortuna Sittard were to stand any chance of getting back into this match then they needed to score early in the second half, but instead it was El Khayati who secured his brace ten minutes after the restart to end any hopes the visitors had of a comeback. Lisandro Semedo did managed to pull a goal back in the eighty-fourth minute, but it was far too late for Fortuna Sittard to turn it into anything other than a consolation goal and the game ended 3-1.

Fortuna Sittard are learning lessons in the Eredivisie fast, with last weeks being that if you don’t take your chances you will inevitably end up being punished. Its been 16-years since Fortuna Sittard last faced Utrecht in the top flight and the hosts don’t have the best of records against their guests which won’t fill them with hope on Saturday.

Utrecht really should have claimed their second win of the season last weekend after they took the lead in the twenty-third minute through Gavory and had 57% of the overall possession against VVV. Both teams were limited to just a handful of chances during the ninety minutes and an early second half penalty from Sušić proved enough to earn the visitors a share of the spoils.

Utrecht restricted their guests to just three shots on target and didn’t hand them a single corner during the ninety minutes, but their own failures in the final third mean the hosts collected one point in the end instead of all three.

Four points from three games is enough to place Utrecht in tenth position in the Eredivisie table while Fortuna Sittard occupy one of the two automatic relegation places, but it is early days and Saturday’s hosts will just be hoping that it isn’t a sign of things to come.

We’re confident that over 2.5 goals will be scored in Saturday’s game and that Utrecht will clinch all three points via a narrow 2-1 win. Over 2.5 goals have been scored in four of the last six meetings between these two clubs. Fortuna Sittard’s last two games have ended in defeat and have produced over 2.5 goals, while over 2.5 goals have been scored in four of Utrecht’s last six matches.