Pro League preview: Can Club Brugge edge out victory against Anderlecht?

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Competition: Belgium Pro League
Competition: Sun 19.December
Match begins: 12:30 (UTC)
Venue: Jan Breydelstadion (29975 seats)

Club Brugge and Anderlecht are both thriving in the Pro League with their 2nd and 3rd spots respectively. Expect a great game!

Insights:
  • Club Brugge have not yet lost a game at home.
  • Anderlecht have the most scored goals in the second half (28) in Pro League

The hosts Brugge saw competitive action as recent as four days ago, playing in the Pro League. That game was an away game at OH Leuven, so at least Brugge are thankful to return home in this one. Game on!

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Club Brugge form and stats

The home supporters can't complain about results here at Jan Breydelstadion as Club Brugge have scored 20 goals to get 19 points from 9 games. The overall stats in the Pro League are 5-4-0 (wins-draws-losses). The team is doing great wherever they are playing as Brugge has won four games in a row. The Mechelen match was the last time out without a victory.

It's back home for Brugge, who return with a good feeling about themselves after beating OH Leuven away with the result 4-1. Vanaken, Ketelaere (2) and Lang found the net in that victory. Brugge goalkeeper Mignolet did an outstanding job against OH Leuven with six saves, so vital to securing the victory. Midfield player Vanaken got a match rating of 9.33 in that game, the max score being 10. Vanaken scored one goal, signed up for three assists, hit three key passes and had 48 successful passes (of 57 total).

Previous to that game, a home match hosting Zulte-Waregem in a game that was won 3-0.

The home team are moderate favourites in this game. How does Brugge handle that role? We have found four games in our database similar to this one, based on the home odds. The stats for these games are one win, two draws and one defeat.

Some members of the home team might already be thinking of their next match, the Belgian Cup game versus OH Leuven in only four days. This game is also played here at Jan Breydelstadion.

With an average of more than two goals per home game in the league (20 in 9 games), Club Brugge's attacking play is working. Brugge have conceded 10 in these home matches.

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Anderlecht form and stats

Playing away, Anderlecht have won 4 games, drawn 3 and suffered 2 defeats in the Pro League this season. The fact that Anderlecht have won four matches in a row should scare the hosts and makes this contest more interesting.

Did you know that the longest clean sheet streak is 1816 minutes? This record is held by Mazaropi when he played in Vasco da Gama. Anderlecht goalkeeper Hendrik Van Crombrugge is eager to challenge this, with his 189 minutes of keeping balls out from the net.

Impressive finishing from Ashimeru and Refaelov secured the home win 2-0 against Sint-Truiden in their previous game. Midfield player Refaelov was the top player of the team with a match rating of 8.4/10. Refaelov scored one goal, hit three key passes, dribled past the opponent 2 of 2 times and had 28 successful passes (of 35 total).

Ahead of that match was the victory versus RFC Seraing at their stadium, the result 5-0.

Anderlecht are the outsiders in this one, but not by much. Their performance in similar games (being the away team and moderate outsiders) is zero wins, three draws and one defeat. From a total of four matches.

After this away game Anderlecht return home for a Belgian Cup game against Kortrijk. That game is only four sleeps after this.

Anderlecht has displayed an ability to score goals in away matches in the league this season, 16 goals from 9 games. It's worth mentioning that 8 of these goals has been scored in their last three away matches. 10 goals have been conceded by Anderlecht in these games.

Head 2 Head

Anderlecht - Brugge 1-1 was the score in these sides' latest head-to-head fixture, played this season. Last ten meetings featuring these participants: Brugge won six, Anderlecht were winners in one and we saw three draws. seven games with more than 2,5 goals, three matches with under 2,5 goals.

Top Goalscorers

BruggeC. De Ketelaere
C. De Ketelaere
8 goals
AnderlechtL. Refaelov
L. Refaelov
8 goals
AnderlechtJ. Zirkzee
J. Zirkzee
8 goals

Club Brugge missing players

Anderlecht missing players

Club Brugge Anderlecht
Total Home vs top Statistics Stat vs top Away Total
19 9 0 Played P 2 9 19
11 5 0 Won W 1 4 9
6 4 0 Drew D 0 3 7
2 0 0 Lost L 1 2 3
39 20 0 Scored S 3 16 41
24 10 0 Conceded C 3 10 24
100% 100% 0% Over 0.5 O 0.5 100% 100% 100%
89% 100% 0% Over 1.5 O 1.5 100% 78% 89%
63% 67% 0% Over 2.5 O 2.5 50% 56% 58%
42% 44% 0% Over 3.5 O 3.5 50% 44% 47%
26% 22% 0% Over 4.5 O 4.5 0% 11% 21%
68% 67% 0% BTTS BTTS 50% 56% 68%
32% 33% 0% Clean Sheets C S 0% 22% 21%
0% 0% 0% Failed to Score F T 50% 22% 11%
 
6.6 7.3 0 Corners for (avg) C F 8 5.7 6.3
4.2 2 0 Corners against (avg) C A 3 3.9 3.6
1.8 1.4 0 Yellow cards (avg) Y C 2 1.9 1.7
4 1 0 Red cards R C 0 1 4
 
15.9 20.1 0 Shots (avg) S ( 12 14 15.8
5.4 6.6 0 Shots on Target (avg) S O 4.5 4.4 4.9
38% 34% 0% Goal Efficiency G E 33% 40% 44%
 
10.4 8.6 0 Shots against (avg) S A 10.5 11.1 10.6
3.6 2.6 0 Shots on Target against (avg) S O 2.5 3.2 3.2
Key stats in Pro League this season:
  • All of Club Brugge's home-matches have had more than 1,5 goals.
  • Anderlecht have the most scored goals in the second half (28) in Pro League
  • Anderlecht haven’t played a single 0-0 game.
  • Club Brugge have not yet lost a game at home.
  • Club Brugge have played more matches over 2,5 goals home than away.
  • Club Brugge have scored in all their matches so far.
  • Club Brugge have won at least twice as many corners as they have conceded at home.
  • Club Brugge haven’t played a single 0-0 game.

  Total Home Away  
# Team MP W D L F A MP W D L F A MP W D L F A +/- P
1 Union Saint-Gilloise 19 14 1 4 47 18 9 6 0 3 20 9 10 8 1 1 27 9 29 43
2 Club Brugge 19 11 6 2 39 24 9 5 4 0 20 10 10 6 2 2 19 14 15 39
3 Anderlecht 19 9 7 3 41 24 10 5 4 1 25 14 9 4 3 2 16 10 17 34
4 Antwerp 18 10 3 5 32 21 9 5 2 2 17 10 9 5 1 3 15 11 11 33
5 Sporting Charleroi 18 9 5 4 32 22 9 4 2 3 13 9 9 5 3 1 19 13 10 32
6 Gent 19 9 3 7 31 21 9 6 1 2 20 10 10 3 2 5 11 11 10 30
7 Mechelen 19 9 3 7 33 34 10 6 2 2 21 15 9 3 1 5 12 19 -1 30
8 Kortrijk 19 7 7 5 24 22 9 4 3 2 12 10 10 3 4 3 12 12 2 28
9 AS Eupen 18 7 4 7 28 26 9 3 3 3 13 13 9 4 1 4 15 13 2 25
10 Standard Liège 18 6 5 7 21 31 9 2 3 4 9 15 9 4 2 3 12 16 -10 23
11 Genk 18 6 4 8 31 30 8 3 2 3 15 12 10 3 2 5 16 18 1 22
12 Cercle Brugge 19 6 4 9 24 25 10 2 2 6 10 14 9 4 2 3 14 11 -1 22
13 Sint-Truiden 19 6 3 10 19 29 10 2 2 6 12 18 9 4 1 4 7 11 -10 21
14 KV Oostende 19 6 2 11 21 39 10 4 1 5 13 23 9 2 1 6 8 16 -18 20
15 OH Leuven 19 4 8 7 24 33 10 3 3 4 12 16 9 1 5 3 12 17 -9 20
16 RFC Seraing 19 6 1 12 23 38 9 4 1 4 13 14 10 2 0 8 10 24 -15 19
17 Zulte-Waregem 19 4 5 10 27 43 10 2 2 6 14 25 9 2 3 4 13 18 -16 17
18 Beerschot-Wilrijk 18 2 3 13 15 32 9 2 0 7 5 11 9 0 3 6 10 21 -17 9

Read more about Pro League

The First Division A is the top league of the football pyramid in Belgium, founded in 1895. It was earlier known as the Belgian Pro League. The season runs from July to May with 16 teams each playing 30 fixtures. The top six in the league table then play a championship playoff, the bottom team is relegated and places #7 to #15 have a Europa League playoff.