Mouscron-Peruwelz vs Club Brugge Predictions, Betting Tips and Match Previews

Their form may have started to wane towards the back end of the last campaign, but Club Brugge came back with a bang last weekend. The champions set about defending their crowd with an opening-day win at home to Eupen, and they’ll now be looking to continue going well by beating Mouscron at Stade Le Canonnier on Sunday evening.

Despite taking the lead last week, a lead they held until after half-time, Mouscron were unable to take anything from their away match against Oostende, as they lost by two goals to one. The result wasn’t the one that they wanted, though their performance wasn’t overly bad. They offered a threat going forward at times, but they weren’t quite strong enough at the back, and it is that defensive insecurity that doesn’t bode well ahead of a match against big hitters Club Brugge.

Facing Club Brugge, even in front of your own fans, is never an easy task for most teams in Belgium, though Sunday’s hosts did manage to beat the reigning champions at this venue last season. On top of that, they managed to secure pleasing results at home against the likes of Gent too; however, although they did get some useful results against top-six teams at home, defending was a real problem for Frank Defays’ in such games. Six home matches against top-six teams saw Mouscron concede a worrying total of 14 goals. They shipped at least twice four of those six.

As far as Club Brugge are concerned, well, Sunday’s visitors thrived against most teams last season, but they very often made light work of both beating and scoring goals against the weaker teams. During the last regular campaign, Brugge scored 19 goals in ten away matches against teams outside of the top six, scoring at least twice in seven of those.

As we saw last weekend, this Brugge side has lots of forward quality, so they’re unlikely to struggle creating against a Mouscron side who failed to keep Oostende at bay on match-day one. However, what we also saw last week is that Brugge can be got at; a poor Lokeren side managed to find the net not once but twice against Leko’s men while, although they overpowered most of the weaker teams last season, they often conceded, especially away. In fact, Brugge conceded in seven of their ten away games against teams who finished outside of the top six.

There can be no questioning the fact that Club Brugge have far more offensive quality than Mouscron, and that quality should be enough to see them through, although they may not have it all their own way. The visitors often had to do it the hard way on the road last season, while they’ll certainly leave space for the hosts to break into. At the prices, backing ‘Over 2.5 Goals & Both Teams to Score’, a bet that landed in six of Brugge’s ten away matches against teams outside of the top six last season, stands out.