On May 24, the play-off match of the Dutch championship for access to the elite division will take place. Excelsior will play Den Haag at home.
Excelsior has an eight-match unbeaten streak (2 wins, 6 draws). In the playoffs, this team has already passed Rod and Heracles. A stubborn struggle was expected from the last confrontation; however, the wards of Marinus Dijkhuizen confidently won both matches (3:0, 3:1) against the team, which until recently was considered a strong middle peasant in the elite division.
Excelsior prefers to play in a classic 4-4-2 formation with two defensive midfielders. The main striking force of the team is 21-year-old striker Thijs Dalling. He has scored 32 goals this season.
Den Haag has already qualified for the playoffs for Breda and FC Eindhoven. All four matches ended with the club’s victory over The Hague with the same score of 2:1.
On January 2, Den Haag defeated Excelsior 3-2 away. It was the last personal meeting of these clubs for today.
It is worth noting that Den Haag does not fit into the playoffs in the optimal line-up. Injured 35-year-old winger Eljero Elia, who previously played for the Netherlands national team, and the main goalkeeper Luc Koopmans.
I wouldn’t try to guess the outcome of the upcoming match: there are two very similar teams in the class. At the end of the season, they were separated by only one point in the table. Considering the main trends, I will choose to bet on a total of over 3.0 goals for 1.80.