Struggling VVV-Venlo will be hoping to pull off an upset when they welcome high-flying AZ Alkmaar in the upcoming league round. It's 13th vs 2nd and the home crowd will have moderate expectations.
We should expect both teams to be fresh and ready for this match, as there is some time since both teams last played. Let's have a look at how the teams are doing!
6-2-3 (wins/draws/losses). These are the numbers for AZ Alkmaar when playing away games on artifical turf, which is not the surface they have on their own home stadium (which has grass). Their goal statistics from those eleven matches are 20-12 (scored/conceded).
VVV-Venlo form and stats
The story so far in the Eredivisie for VVV-Venlo at their home stadium (Covebo Stadion - De Koel) is 5 wins, 3 draws and 5 defeats.
Times are rough for the home team, having gone 183 minutes without scoring a league goal. O. Darfalou was the last player to find the net.
In their previous game, the manager H. de Koning led his VVV-Venlo to a defeat in the Eredivisie match away at FC Emmen. The manager is hoping to put things right immediately here at Covebo Stadion - De Koel. In the match before that, VVV-Venlo hosted Fortuna Sittard and drew the game 0-0.
VVV-Venlo has scored 14 league goals at home this season, in 13 matches. With more than 1,5 conceded goals on average, the VVV-Venlo defense is not exactly impregnable. 21 goals conceded from 13 games. You can find more goal stats on the Statistics tab above.
AZ Alkmaar form and stats
AZ Alkmaar's travelling support has been rewarded for their time and money so far this season, having witnessed AZ Alkmaar, who have the most clean sheets (17) in Eredivisie, collect 25 points from their 12 away matches in the Eredivisie. 8 victories and 1 draw have created these points (and only 3 defeats).
330 minutes! That's how long the AZ Alkmaar goalkeeper Marco Bizot and his defense have shut out their league opponents.
AZ Alkmaar go into this game after a win, the home game against ADO Den Haag that ended 4-0. Preceding that game was the away victory against Ajax with the score of 2-0.
As you can tell from the results above, AZ Alkmaar was very dominant against ADO Den Haag, winning the match with a scoreline that even the finest fortune teller couldn't predict. 4-0 (!) with Teun Koopmeiners (2), Ferdy Druijf and Owen Wijndal providing the goals.
The travelling fans enjoy AZ Alkmaar's attacking play in away games, having scored 22 goals in 12 league matches away. It's not easy to score on AZ Alkmaar as they have only conceded 9 goals from these away games.
Head 2 Head
This is not the first time this season these parties meet, as the history books show this recent fixture: AZ Alkmaar - VVV-Venlo 1-0. As for the last ten games between these two teams, there's one VVV-Venlo victory, two draws and seven AZ Alkmaar wins. Over/under statistics; six of these games ended with three goals or more, four matches with two goals or less.Top Goalscorers
 M. Boadu 14 goals |  O. Idrissi 13 goals |  T. Koopmeiners 11 goals |
VVV-Venlo missing players
AZ Alkmaar missing players
| VVV-Venlo | AZ Alkmaar | ||||||
| Total | Home | vs | Statistics | Stat | vs | Away | Total |
| 26 | 13 | 4 | Played | P | 4 | 12 | 25 |
| 8 | 5 | 0 | Won | W | 3 | 8 | 18 |
| 4 | 3 | 2 | Drew | D | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 14 | 5 | 2 | Lost | L | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| 24 | 14 | 3 | Scored | S | 6 | 22 | 54 |
| 51 | 21 | 9 | Conceded | C | 2 | 9 | 17 |
| 96% | 92% | 100% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 100% | 100% | 96% |
| 77% | 85% | 100% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 75% | 92% | 84% |
| 62% | 62% | 50% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 25% | 58% | 60% |
| 27% | 23% | 25% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 0% | 8% | 28% |
| 19% | 8% | 25% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 0% | 0% | 8% |
| 54% | 54% | 75% | BTTS | BTTS | 0% | 25% | 24% |
| 15% | 23% | 0% | Clean Sheets | C S | 75% | 58% | 68% |
| 35% | 31% | 25% | Failed to Score | F T | 25% | 17% | 12% |
| 4 | 4.2 | 3.5 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 3.5 | 4.6 | 6.4 |
| 6.1 | 6.2 | 8.5 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 5.8 | 4.7 | 3.5 |
| 1.7 | 1.6 | 1.5 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 0.5 | 1.6 | 1.3 |
| 2 | 1 | 1 | Red cards | R C | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 259 | 149 | 39 | Total Shots | T S | 43 | 137 | 362 |
| 84 | 51 | 11 | Shots on Target | S O | 20 | 63 | 138 |
| 29% | 27% | 27% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 30% | 35% | 39% |
- AZ Alkmaar has the fewest conceded goals (17)
- AZ Alkmaar has the fewest conceded goals (9) away
- AZ Alkmaar has the fewest conceded goals in the second half (7)
- AZ Alkmaar has the most clean sheets (17)
- AZ Alkmaar has the most clean sheets (7) away
- AZ Alkmaar has the most points (25) away
- AZ Alkmaar have scored at least twice as many goals as they have conceded.
- AZ Alkmaar have scored more than double the goals of VVV-Venlo.
- AZ Alkmaar have won significantly less corners away then at home.
- AZ Alkmaar haven’t played a single 0-0 game away.
- VVV-Venlo has the fewest scored goals (24)
- VVV-Venlo has the fewest scored goals in the first half (8)
- VVV-Venlo have conceded at least twice as many goals as they have scored.
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Ajax | 25 | 18 | 2 | 5 | 68 | 23 | 13 | 11 | 0 | 2 | 40 | 8 | 12 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 28 | 15 | 45 | 56 |
| 2 | AZ Alkmaar | 25 | 18 | 2 | 5 | 54 | 17 | 13 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 32 | 8 | 12 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 22 | 9 | 37 | 56 |
| 3 | Feyenoord | 25 | 14 | 8 | 3 | 50 | 35 | 13 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 29 | 15 | 12 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 21 | 20 | 15 | 50 |
| 4 | PSV | 26 | 14 | 7 | 5 | 54 | 28 | 12 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 32 | 12 | 14 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 22 | 16 | 26 | 49 |
| 5 | Willem II | 26 | 13 | 5 | 8 | 37 | 34 | 13 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 17 | 9 | 13 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 20 | 25 | 3 | 44 |
| 6 | FC Utrecht | 25 | 12 | 5 | 8 | 50 | 34 | 12 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 30 | 12 | 13 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 20 | 22 | 16 | 41 |
| 7 | Vitesse | 26 | 12 | 5 | 9 | 45 | 35 | 13 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 24 | 15 | 13 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 21 | 20 | 10 | 41 |
| 8 | Heracles | 26 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 40 | 34 | 13 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 31 | 17 | 13 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 9 | 17 | 6 | 36 |
| 9 | FC Groningen | 26 | 10 | 5 | 11 | 27 | 26 | 13 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 17 | 10 | 13 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 16 | 1 | 35 |
| 10 | SC Heerenveen | 26 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 41 | 41 | 14 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 17 | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 24 | 23 | 0 | 33 |
| 11 | Sparta Rotterdam | 26 | 9 | 6 | 11 | 41 | 45 | 13 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 30 | 16 | 13 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 29 | -4 | 33 |
| 12 | FC Emmen | 26 | 9 | 5 | 12 | 32 | 45 | 13 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 26 | 12 | 13 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 6 | 33 | -13 | 32 |
| 13 | VVV-Venlo | 26 | 8 | 4 | 14 | 24 | 51 | 13 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 14 | 21 | 13 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 10 | 30 | -27 | 28 |
| 14 | FC Twente | 26 | 7 | 6 | 13 | 34 | 46 | 13 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 23 | 22 | 13 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 24 | -12 | 27 |
| 15 | PEC Zwolle | 26 | 7 | 5 | 14 | 37 | 55 | 12 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 28 | 30 | 14 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 9 | 25 | -18 | 26 |
| 16 | Fortuna Sittard | 26 | 6 | 8 | 12 | 29 | 52 | 13 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 22 | 17 | 13 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 7 | 35 | -23 | 26 |
| 17 | ADO Den Haag | 26 | 4 | 7 | 15 | 25 | 54 | 13 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 17 | 13 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 14 | 37 | -29 | 19 |
| 18 | RKC Waalwijk | 26 | 4 | 3 | 19 | 27 | 60 | 13 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 13 | 20 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 14 | 40 | -33 | 15 |