📏 Form Guide

Antwerp

LWLLLL 📉

Antwerp will be looking to improve on their last outing here following the 1-0 Belgian Cup losing effort in their last game against Union Saint-Gilloise.

Koki Machida (45') scored for Union Saint-Gilloise.

Antwerp haven’t made the most of their chances in recent times. Their goals record equals just 3 versus opposition teams during the course of their last six outings. In those games, Antwerp have also seen the tally of goals against them come to 12.

Cercle Brugge

WDLLDW ⚖

Cercle Brugge will come into the match following on from a 4-1 First Division A - Play-Offs win to defeat KRC Genk in their most recent fixture.

In that game, Cercle Brugge had 37% possession and 16 attempts at goal with 6 on target. For Cercle Brugge, goals were scored by Félix Lemaréchal (12'), Malamine Efekele (24'), Thibo Somers (45') and Kévin Denkey (61'). At the other end, Genk got 13 attempts on goal with 6 of them on target. Anouar Ait El Hadj (9') was the scorer for KRC Genk.

The numbers tell their own story, and Cercle Brugge have been scored against in 6 of their last 6 games, with opponents netting 9 goals in total. At the back, Cercle Brugge have some weaknesses to address. With no two games being the same, we will just have to wait and see whether that pattern will be replicated here in this game or not.

↔️ Head to head

A quick look at their past head to head results stretching back to 09/04/2022 shows that these encounters have been miserable for Cercle Brugge. They’ve not managed to come away with any wins at all whereas Antwerp have managed to find a way, running out winners in 83 per cent of those match-ups.

In all, 13 goals were produced between them in this period, with 10 of them from The Great Old and 3 created by Groen en Zwart. That is an average goals per game value of 2.17.

The last league meeting between these sides was First Division A - Play-Offs match day 4 on 21/04/2024 when the final score was Cercle Brugge 0-1 Antwerp.

In that match, Cercle Brugge managed 53% possession and 16 shots on goal with 4 on target.

On the other side, Antwerp got 12 attempts at goal with 8 of them on target. Chidera Ejuke (66') scored.

The match was refereed by Nathan Verboomen.

🗞️ Team News: Antwerp

Björn Engels (Achilles heel problems), Jean Butez (Broken hand) and Kobe Corbanie (Shoulder injury) won’t be able to feature for Antwerp gaffer Mark van Bommel.

It seems likely that The Great Old may well kick off with a 4-2-3-1 system, handing starts to Senne Lammens, Ritchie De Laet, Zeno Van Den Bosch, Toby Alderweireld, Jelle Bataille, Alhassan Yusuf, M. Ange Balikwisha, Gyrano Kerk, Jurgen Ekkelenkamp, Jacob Ondrejka and Chidera Ejuke.

📰 Team News: Cercle Brugge

Cercle Brugge boss Miron Muslic has multiple availability issues to deal with. Jordan Semedo (Knock), Edgaras Utkus (Eyebow fracture), Nazinho (minor knock) and Nils De Wilde (Hamstring injury) miss out here.

We believe Groen en Zwart will likely make use of a 4-2-3-1 formation, starting Warleson, Hugo Siquet, Christiaan Ravych, Jesper Daland, L. Da Silva, Abu Francis, H. van der, Alan Minda, Felix Lemarechal, Thibo Somers and Kevin Denkey.

✨ Prediction

We’re of the view that Cercle Brugge will surely be able to get a goal against this Antwerp lineup, but it might not quite be as many as they’ll concede.

We are anticipating a narrow 2-1 victory for Antwerp after the 90. Definitely a tough call.

Our expert partners are tipping over 1.5 goals for this match. Check out their VIP predictions here.

Victor Martins, 16:02 12/05/2024