RKC vs Excelsior Predictions

Five years on from their last Play-Off clash, RKC and Excelsior do battle again this Sunday and it’s the in-form hosts who will be seeking to avenge their Final Round defeat in 2014. Fred Grim’s charges brilliantly overturned a two goal deficit to oust NEC in their opening tie last week, and they look a solid wager to take another significant step forward here after registering four wins and a draw from their last five outings at home.

RKC were arguably the biggest surprise packages in Eerste Divisie this term and they certainly gave NEC a shock at Mandemakers Stadion last week. The Nijmegen outfit looked well in control of their 1^st Round tie after a 2-0 victory in the 1^st Leg at Goffertstadion, but RKC made light work of their arrears in Waalwijk to go through 3-2 on aggregate thanks to goals from Stijn Spierings, Mauro Bilate and joint-top scorer Dylan Seys.

Grim’s side are now just a handful of games away from returning to Eredivisie after a five year absence, and on Sunday they encounter the club which stripped away their top flight status in 2014.

Excelsior triumphed 2-0 on that occasion, but RKC will be confident that they can get the better of the argument this time around. They will potentially benefit from playing at home first where they have been extremely strong of late, and they should be more than capable of taking a lead to Rotterdam if they replicate last week’s performance or the effort which they turned in last month when beaten champions Twente 4-1.

Excelsior finished the regular season well with back to back victories against Heracles (4-5) and AZ Alkmaar (4-2), but they have been woeful on the road this term with 12 losses suffered in 17 games. Ricardo Moniz’ side have shipped 43 times on their travels and a whopping 79 times overall,, so they will surely come under fire against the hosts who have smashed in 20 goals in their last seven fixtures.

It’s mightily difficult to assess how teams from the two different divisions will stack up, but there really doesn’t appear to be much between Eerste Divisie’s best and Eredivisie’s worst this season so RKC have to be worthy of support this weekend at around the 6/4 mark. Fred Grim’s men are rapidly on the upgrade and are enjoying the winning habit, and that could be crucial as Excelsior will be under pressure with everything to lose.

The hosts should get plenty of joy against the Rotterdam outfit in front of goal, so we’re also going for a 3-1 correct score prediction in their favour.