Football Results

The second match of the Dutch play-off for the Europa League should be more interesting that the first one as Groningen won Vitesse 2-1 at home in the 1st leg. The guests have advantage but Vitesse scored and it could be said that have a favourable situation. Vitesse played better in the regular season and had ended up at the fifth place, while Groningen was eight having the same number of points fewer. Regarding their head-to-head, each team won at home.

Vitesse Arnhem

Vitesse played in the Europa League qualifiers this season but was unsuccessful. Their objective for this season was to again reach the European scene but they failed to do so directly in the regular season. Vitesse ended up at the fifth place where 4th-place AZ Alkmaar was too far. We should add that Vitesse was never lower positioned than the 8th place and it deserves place in the play-off. They played well at home which is encouraging sign ahead of the rematch.

They lost just once in front of their fans in the regular season, and they did so to new champion Ajax at the very beginning. Ajay is the last team that defeated them in the league, which happened before away match with Gronningen in the play-off which they lost too. Vitesse was trailing behind 2-0 but Clark scored an important goal 20 minutes before the end. Midfielder Bero got injured early in the match and Buttner replaced him, who could be a starter now.

Probable lineups Vitesse Arnhem: Pasveer – Karavaev, van der Werff, Doekhi, Clark – Serero – Odegaard, Foor – Buttner – Buitink, Linssen

FC Groningen

Groningen squeezed into the play-off. It ended up at the eight place, the last one that offers chance to qualify for the Europa League. It seems for a bigger part of the season that will not succeed. At the beginning of it Groningen was in the drop zone, even at the last place for several rounds. Their rise started in the second half of season when they had seven-game unbeaten streak. They fought a great battle in the finish of season and they didn’t play well since they lost three out of last four matches, but nevertheless they ended up at the eight place.

It could be worrying sign ahead of rematch that they didn’t play well away and had won just three times, although a draw would be good to pass the round. They can be sorry for not maintaining lead of 2-0, as it would be a great step toward the next round. Compared to the last round of regular season when they lost away to Emmen 1-0 manager Buijs made two changes and Bruns and Wermerdam played in the midfield. Now he perhaps won’t make new changes and the same team will go on the pitch.

Probable lineups FC Groningen: Padt – Zeefuik, te Wierik, Memisevic, Handwerker – Doan, Reis, Bruns, Warmerdam – Sierhuis, Mahi

Verdict:

Vitesse showed more this season and that can be best seen through positions that the two teams won at the end of regular season. However, Groningen gathered enough strength to win but now will play away where they perform much worse, while on the other hand Vitesse is very good at the home pitch and we forecast their victory.

Pick: Vitesse wins 1.67 - 67/100 @1XBet