National cups are something special for many teams and supporters. Today's match will decide whether it's Ajax or Vitesse that keep their silverware dream alive.
There’s little time for restitution or working hard at the training pitch these days, with both teams having played their last game less than four days ago.
Ajax form and stats
25 points is a decent return from 11 Eredivisie games here at Johan Cruijff Arena for Ajax. The data says 8 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses.
A nice win for Ajax last time playing, versus Heracles. That was also a home game and the match ended 3-0 with Klaassen, Haller and Taylor scoring for the victors. The forward Haller won the honour of being "man of the match" for Ajax with the rating of 8.32/10. Haller scored one goal, served one assist and hit three key passes.
Before that match, a Eredivisie win away at PSV.It would be a shock if the hosts fail to win this game. Let's see how Ajax have performed as huge favourites like they are today: 19 games found in the database showing 17 Ajax wins, one draw and one defeat.
Another home game is coming up fairly shortly for the hosts, as FC Twente are coming to town in four days.
It's goals goals goals for Ajax who have scored 41 goals from 11 league home games. As for guarding their own goal, Ajax have only let in 3 goals at home.
Vitesse form and stats
Vitesse's mission in KNVB Beker last season failed in the final.Vitesse have an excellent away record in the Eredivisie so far with 7-1-3 from 11 games.
Vitesse lost away at FC Twente (0-3) in their previous game and are perhaps starting to feel homesick. Bero got a match rating of 7.13 in that game, top player of the team. Bero dribled past the opponent 1 of 2 times.
A loss against FC Groningen was the result prior to that, in a Eredivisie home game.Nobody expects Vitesse to collect anything from a game like this. The team has been David versus Goliath six times before, with the overall statistics of won one, draw two and lost three. When defeated, three matches have been lost by two or more goals.
A quick return to home after this game, as Vitesse are hosting PSV in the Eredivisie only three days away.
Vitesse have a decent goal production going in their away games, although not fantastic. In 11 league away games 16 goals have been scored. As opposed to that, Vitesse have seen the ball go into their own net 15 times on the road.
Head 2 Head
H2H stats regardless of arena (last ten matches): Ajax seven wins, one draw and Vitesse two victories. As for goals, ten matches ended with three or more goals (over 2,5), zero games had two or less. The matches between these sides have sometimes been brutal, having seen 5 sending-offs from the last ten duels.Top Goalscorers
  S. Haller 13 goals |   L. Openda 11 goals |  D. Tadić 7 goals |
Ajax missing players
Vitesse missing players
| Ajax | Vitesse | ||||||
| Total | Home | Statistics | Stat | Away | Total | ||
| 25 | 14 | Played | P | 11 | 25 | ||
| 21 | 11 | Won | W | 6 | 14 | ||
| 2 | 1 | Drew | D | 2 | 4 | ||
| 2 | 2 | Lost | L | 3 | 7 | ||
| 84 | 54 | Scored | S | 20 | 40 | ||
| 9 | 5 | Conceded | C | 15 | 32 | ||
| 92% | 93% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 100% | 96% | ||
| 84% | 86% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 73% | 76% | ||
| 72% | 79% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 55% | 60% | ||
| 48% | 57% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 36% | 28% | ||
| 36% | 43% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 27% | 16% | ||
| 24% | 14% | BTTS | BTTS | 45% | 60% | ||
| 72% | 79% | Clean Sheets | C S | 36% | 32% | ||
| 12% | 14% | Failed to Score | F T | 18% | 12% | ||
| 6.5 | 7.1 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 6.3 | 6 | ||
| 2.7 | 1.6 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 3.3 | 3.3 | ||
| 1 | 0.9 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 1.8 | 2.2 | ||
| 0 | 0 | Red cards | R C | 3 | 7 | ||
| 19.2 | 22.4 | Shots (avg) | S ( | 15.5 | 15.9 | ||
| 7.9 | 9.6 | Shots on Target (avg) | S O | 6.2 | 5.8 | ||
| 43% | 40% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 29% | 28% | ||
| 7.7 | 6.1 | Shots against (avg) | S A | 11.2 | 10.6 | ||
| 2.4 | 1.9 | Shots on Target against (avg) | S O | 3.9 | 3.8 | ||
| 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 | 21 | 16 | 3 | 2 | 64 | 5 | 11 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 41 | 3 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 23 | 2 | 59 | 51 |
| 2 | PSV | 21 | 15 | 1 | 5 | 49 | 28 | 11 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 29 | 16 | 10 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 20 | 12 | 21 | 46 |
| 3 | Feyenoord | 21 | 14 | 3 | 4 | 50 | 19 | 11 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 28 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 22 | 9 | 31 | 45 |
| 4 | FC Twente | 21 | 12 | 5 | 4 | 34 | 22 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 15 | 6 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 19 | 16 | 12 | 41 |
| 5 | AZ | 21 | 12 | 3 | 6 | 39 | 25 | 10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 24 | 10 | 11 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 39 |
| 6 | Vitesse | 21 | 11 | 3 | 7 | 27 | 31 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 11 | 16 | 11 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 16 | 15 | -4 | 36 |
| 7 | FC Utrecht | 21 | 10 | 5 | 6 | 39 | 28 | 11 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 26 | 12 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 13 | 16 | 11 | 35 |
| 8 | SC Cambuur | 21 | 9 | 3 | 9 | 35 | 43 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 18 | 21 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 17 | 22 | -8 | 30 |
| 9 | NEC | 21 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 26 | 31 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 14 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 16 | 17 | -5 | 27 |
| 10 | FC Groningen | 21 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 25 | 30 | 10 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 9 | 8 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 16 | 22 | -5 | 25 |
| 11 | SC Heerenveen | 21 | 7 | 4 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 11 | 18 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 12 | -10 | 25 |
| 12 | RKC Waalwijk | 21 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 24 | 34 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 17 | 11 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 14 | 17 | -10 | 22 |
| 13 | Go Ahead Eagles | 21 | 6 | 4 | 11 | 21 | 34 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 13 | 15 | 11 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 19 | -13 | 22 |
| 14 | Willem II | 21 | 6 | 3 | 12 | 21 | 40 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 10 | 17 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 11 | 23 | -19 | 21 |
| 15 | Heracles | 21 | 5 | 5 | 11 | 22 | 30 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 16 | 13 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 6 | 17 | -8 | 20 |
| 16 | Fortuna Sittard | 21 | 4 | 4 | 13 | 23 | 50 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 13 | 23 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 27 | -27 | 16 |
| 17 | Sparta Rotterdam | 21 | 2 | 8 | 11 | 16 | 35 | 11 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 17 | 10 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 18 | -19 | 14 |
| 18 | PEC Zwolle | 21 | 3 | 4 | 14 | 13 | 33 | 11 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 12 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 6 | 21 | -20 | 13 |
