Go Ahead Eagles vs Maastricht Predictions

The writing was probably already on the wall for Go Ahead Eagles in terms of automatic promotion before last week’s fixture against Sparta Rotterdam, but a 6-1 drubbing at Het Kasteel will have really hurt John Stegeman’s side. Eagles now have to lift themselves to finish the campaign as strongly as possible before the Play-offs, but they could be undone again on match day 27 as they welcome to De Adelaarshorst an MVV side who have won their last five league games on the spin.

After just one win from their last four games, Go Ahead were expected to struggle away to Sparta on match day 26 but few would have predicted the emphatic scoreline in favour of the Rotterdam outfit.

Ibrahim Dervisoglu netted four times as Sparta romped their way to a 6-1 success, with Eagles falling to pieces in front of their travelling supporters.

There was always a question mark over Go Ahead and whether they would run out of steam following a dream start to the campaign that saw them top the Eerste Divisie table, and recent performances certainly suggest that may be happening.

John Stegeman’s men picked up three points in a comfortable 2-4 win against second bottom Jong Utrecht on match day 24, but there’s been little else to shout about in recent weeks, with Eagles turned over 0-1 by FC Eindhoven and held to 1-1 and 4-4 draws by Cambuur and NEC who are both in the bottom third of the standings.

Now 4^th and 12 points behind leaders Twente, Eagles will have to settle for a Play-off place this season and they should be fine on that front, with nine points separating them from 10^th placed Oss.

Nevertheless, Eagles will still need to collect their fair share of points from here on in to guarantee their spot and a bye past the preliminary round, with a number of sides in behind on the up.

MVV are certainly one of those clubs, and the Maastricht outfit go into this Friday’s contest in Deventer on the back of five straight wins following a tremendous 1-2 triumph at 3^rd placed Den Bosch last week.

That result solidified 7^th place for Ron Elsen’s charges, and they could jump as high as 5^th with a victory this Friday, depending on how other results go.

MVV’s record on the road now stands at seven wins, four draws and two defeats from 13 outings, which is bettered only by champions elect Twente. That gives them a huge shout of clinching another win this Friday and gaining revenge for the 1-2 defeat inflicted upon them by Eagles at De Geusselt back in August.

Eagles’ status as favourites for this one is just about right when looking at league positions and taking the whole campaign into account, but we really fancy the in-form visitors to strike again here.

The hosts have been decent in Deventer overall this term with eight victories garnered from 13, but they have picked up just eight points from their last six matches at De Adelaarshorst so there’s every chance that MVV can take advantage – especially with Eagles in a vulnerable place after last week’s hiding in Rotterdam.

So we’re backing MVV to land the spoils in this one, and 1-3 is our correct score prediction in favour of the Maastricht side.