RKC vs Go Ahead Eagles Predictions

Go Ahead Eagles finished three places and four points better off than RKC in the Eerste Divisie standings this term, however it’s the Waalwijk outfit who have impressed the most in recent weeks and they head into this Final Round Play-Off clash with momentum firmly on their side. Fred Grim’s charges fended off Eredivisie cub Excelsior in the last round and they will be confident about claiming a 1^st Leg advantage at Mandemakers Stadion this weekend after notching five wins and a draw from their last six games at home.

A crushing 3-0 victory over NEC in Waalwijk turned matters around for RKC in the First Round, and they laid the foundations for their brave triumph against Excelsior with a 2-1 win here last weekend, thanks to goals from Mauro Bilate and Jurien Gaari.

A Stijn Spierings goal in Rotterdam ensured that RKC sneaked through to this Final Round 3-2 on aggregate and the atmosphere should be bouncing at Mandemakers Stadion this Saturday as RKC set out to end their five year absence from the top flight.

They’ll probably need a lead once again after the 1^st Leg to see off this Go Ahead Eagles side who are equally strong on their own turf; however RKC made light of their opponents’ record in Deventer when smashing them 1-4 at De Adelaarshorst just a few weeks ago.

That should give the hosts a huge psychological edge here, and it’s probably fair to say that they have performed much better than Eagles over the past couple of months, regardless of that aforementioned fixture between the pair.

After a somewhat frustrating 2-2 draw at home, Go Ahead progressed past Den Bosch in midweek thanks to a dramatic late winner from Jeroen Veldmate – and that result marked Eagles first away success in four outings after three consecutive defeats on the road.

That’s primarily why their regular season finished with a bit of a whimper, and although there was definite improvement from John Stegeman’s men in s-Hertogenbosch a few days ago, they’ll have to step up again here to earn a positive result in the 1^st Leg.

Taking the last few weeks into account and RKC’s hammering of Eagles in late April, we have to support the Waalwijk side in this one and they rate as good value at around 6/4 to take this tie by the scruff of the neck.  The hosts have played some fantastic stuff at Mandemakers Stadion lately and they should prove too good – assuming that they can cope with the quick turnaround, after a difficult match in Rotterdam earlier this week.