Excelsior will not look for any favours from hosting team Almere City in this Eerste Divisie match. Here's your comprehensive match preview!
- Almere City have the most dropped points from leading position (31) in Eerste Divisie
- Excelsior have the most scored goals (73) in Eerste Divisie
One slightly interesting match fact is that this game is played on grass and that the visiting Excelsior have a different surface at their stadium (artifical turf). The impact of this is hard to measure exactly, but the visitors stats on grass is 6-5-7 (win-draw-loss) from 18 matches.
Both teams should be fairly well rested for this game, as they have had some quiet days to prepare. Hopefully this will translate into lots of action on the pitch.
Almere City form and stats
The home fans haven’t been spoiled with victories in the Eerste Divisie this season. Almere City have only managed 4 wins, 4 draws and 8 losses from their games here at Yanmar Stadion. The happy trend is alive also outside their own arena as Almere City has won their last four matches.
Almere City are confident in defense, having played 291 minutes without conceding a goal in the league.
Almere enjoyed a nice away win last time out, playing at MVV Maastricht's place. The match ended 3-0 with Alhaft (2) and Arweiler scoring. The versatile forward Alhaft outshone all the other footballers in that match and received a match rating of 8.44 out of 10. Alhaft scored two goals and hit one key pass.
Previous to that game, a home match hosting FC Den Bosch in a game that was won 2-0.The bookmakers consider this a fairly even contest. One could say only the home advantage separates the teams. It could be relevant to look at how Almere City have performed in matches similar to this (as small favourites). Our database has found six matches with the results: Won three, drawn zero and lost three.
The Almere City fans would probably like to see some more goals scored at their own stadium in the league, the tally being 22 in 16 matches. Defensively it’s touch-and-go for the home team as 27 goals have been conceded. There's been improvement defensively lately, as only 1 of these goals has been conceded in their last three home matches.
Excelsior form and stats
Excelsior have an excellent away record in the Eerste Divisie so far with 10-2-4 from 16 games.
The followers enjoyed Excelsior's previous match versus Helmond Sport (placed 20th), a 3-0 win played at home. Wieffer got a match rating of 8.63 in that game, top player of the team. Wieffer scored one goal, served one assist, hit two key passes, dribled past the opponent 7 of 8 times and had 58 successful passes (of 66 total).
Before that, Excelsior travelled to FC Oss and returned home with a draw after the game finished 1-1.So, this is expected to be a close game, an even contest. Looking at earlier matches with Excelsior playing away and similar expectations, we found seven relevant matches. Results were two Excelsior wins, two draws and three defeats.
Excelsior have scored more than twice on average per away game (in the league), an impressive attacking display. They have 35 goals from 16 away matches. Many of these goals have come late in the matches; more than 50 percent (15 goals) after the 60th minute. As opposed to that, Excelsior have seen the ball go into their own net 23 times on the road.
Head 2 Head
It's not the first time these sides meet on the pitch this campaign, as the history books show this recent game: Excelsior - Almere City 4-4. H2H stats regardless of arena (last ten matches): Almere City four wins, one draw and Excelsior five victories. As for goals, eight matches ended with three or more goals (over 2,5), two games had two or less.Top Goalscorers
  T. Dallinga 31 goals |  R. Niemeijer 13 goals |   L. Duijvestijn 10 goals |
Almere City missing players
Excelsior missing players
| Almere City | Excelsior | ||||||
| Total | Home | vs | Statistics | Stat | vs | Away | Total |
| 32 | 16 | 5 | Played | P | 5 | 16 | 32 |
| 9 | 4 | 1 | Won | W | 2 | 10 | 19 |
| 8 | 4 | 1 | Drew | D | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| 15 | 8 | 3 | Lost | L | 3 | 4 | 8 |
| 49 | 22 | 6 | Scored | S | 6 | 35 | 73 |
| 58 | 27 | 11 | Conceded | C | 10 | 23 | 42 |
| 94% | 88% | 80% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 100% | 100% | 97% |
| 84% | 81% | 80% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 100% | 88% | 84% |
| 66% | 56% | 60% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 60% | 62% | 66% |
| 38% | 38% | 60% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 40% | 44% | 41% |
| 22% | 19% | 40% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 20% | 38% | 31% |
| 59% | 44% | 40% | BTTS | BTTS | 40% | 62% | 56% |
| 22% | 38% | 40% | Clean Sheets | C S | 40% | 31% | 34% |
| 25% | 31% | 40% | Failed to Score | F T | 20% | 6% | 12% |
| 5.4 | 4.9 | 4 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 3 | 4.3 | 4.6 |
| 5.2 | 5.7 | 7.2 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 7.4 | 6.7 | 6 |
| 1.2 | 0.9 | 1.6 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.2 |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | Red cards | R C | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 10.8 | 10.4 | 5.2 | Shots (avg) | S ( | 7.6 | 9.6 | 10.6 |
| 4.3 | 4.6 | 2.4 | Shots on Target (avg) | S O | 3.4 | 4.8 | 5.3 |
| 36% | 30% | 50% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 35% | 45% | 43% |
| 9.6 | 8.3 | 11 | Shots against (avg) | S A | 13.4 | 12.9 | 10.4 |
| 4.3 | 4.1 | 6.2 | Shots on Target against (avg) | S O | 5.2 | 5.1 | 4.2 |
- Almere City have the most dropped points from leading position (31) in Eerste Divisie
- Excelsior have the most scored goals (35) away in Eerste Divisie
- Excelsior have the most scored goals (73) in Eerste Divisie
- Excelsior have the most scored goals in the second half (41) in Eerste Divisie
- Excelsior haven’t played a single 0-0 game away.
- Excelsior is in the best form (5-1-0) in Eerste Divisie
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | FC Emmen | 32 | 22 | 4 | 6 | 54 | 22 | 16 | 12 | 0 | 4 | 33 | 12 | 16 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 21 | 10 | 32 | 70 |
| 2 | FC Volendam | 31 | 18 | 10 | 3 | 66 | 41 | 15 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 38 | 22 | 16 | 7 | 8 | 1 | 28 | 19 | 25 | 64 |
| 3 | Excelsior | 32 | 19 | 5 | 8 | 73 | 42 | 16 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 38 | 19 | 16 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 35 | 23 | 31 | 62 |
| 4 | FC Eindhoven | 32 | 17 | 7 | 8 | 60 | 37 | 16 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 34 | 15 | 16 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 26 | 22 | 23 | 58 |
| 5 | Jong Ajax | 31 | 16 | 6 | 9 | 68 | 54 | 16 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 40 | 25 | 15 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 28 | 29 | 14 | 54 |
| 6 | Roda JC Kerkrade | 31 | 14 | 11 | 6 | 63 | 38 | 15 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 29 | 15 | 16 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 34 | 23 | 25 | 53 |
| 7 | ADO Den Haag | 31 | 18 | 5 | 8 | 64 | 46 | 15 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 33 | 17 | 16 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 31 | 29 | 18 | 53 |
| 8 | Graafschap | 32 | 14 | 8 | 10 | 43 | 35 | 16 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 15 | 21 | 16 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 28 | 14 | 8 | 50 |
| 9 | NAC Breda | 31 | 13 | 9 | 9 | 49 | 38 | 15 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 26 | 10 | 16 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 23 | 28 | 11 | 48 |
| 10 | VVV-Venlo | 32 | 12 | 5 | 15 | 40 | 44 | 16 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 22 | 24 | 16 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 18 | 20 | -4 | 41 |
| 11 | Jong PSV | 30 | 10 | 6 | 14 | 50 | 50 | 16 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 30 | 23 | 14 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 20 | 27 | 0 | 36 |
| 12 | Almere City | 32 | 9 | 8 | 15 | 49 | 58 | 16 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 22 | 27 | 16 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 27 | 31 | -9 | 35 |
| 13 | Jong AZ | 31 | 10 | 5 | 16 | 31 | 41 | 15 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 17 | 19 | 16 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 14 | 22 | -10 | 35 |
| 14 | FC Den Bosch | 32 | 10 | 4 | 18 | 33 | 57 | 16 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 18 | 25 | 16 | 2 | 3 | 11 | 15 | 32 | -24 | 34 |
| 15 | FC Oss | 31 | 8 | 8 | 15 | 39 | 49 | 16 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 24 | 24 | 15 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 15 | 25 | -10 | 32 |
| 16 | FC Dordrecht | 32 | 8 | 8 | 16 | 47 | 68 | 16 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 25 | 27 | 16 | 3 | 2 | 11 | 22 | 41 | -21 | 32 |
| 17 | Telstar | 32 | 7 | 11 | 14 | 36 | 60 | 16 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 19 | 33 | 16 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 17 | 27 | -24 | 32 |
| 18 | MVV Maastricht | 32 | 9 | 2 | 21 | 34 | 67 | 16 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 18 | 32 | 16 | 5 | 0 | 11 | 16 | 35 | -33 | 29 |
| 19 | Jong Utrecht | 31 | 8 | 4 | 19 | 31 | 57 | 16 | 4 | 0 | 12 | 13 | 31 | 15 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 18 | 26 | -26 | 28 |
| 20 | Helmond Sport | 32 | 7 | 6 | 19 | 32 | 58 | 16 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 18 | 29 | 16 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 14 | 29 | -26 | 24 |
