Sparta Rotterdam vs Vitesse prediction: NETHERLANDS: Eredivisie betting tips on match 2023-03-11 20:00.
For a moment it seemed that Sparta Rotterdam’s charge for the top five had run out of puff when they couldn’t conquer title challengers Ajax (L 0-4) or Utrecht (L 0-3), but their commanding 4-1 thrashing of crosstown rival Excelsior last weekend reminded the competition that Sparta deserve their place in the top six. The club that had to fight for survival right up until the final round last year have a different goal at the front of their minds this time: to reach the playoffs for European football.
The club have already collected five more points than they did in the entirety of 2021/22 and many of their key players appear to be enjoying what could arguably be the best season of their individual careers so far. Vito van Crooij, for example, added another two assists last weekend to bring his goal contribution tally to 16 (G8, A8) from his 24 Eredivisie appearances – an impressive strike rate.
There appeared to be an upward trend in Vitesse Arnhem’s results under Phillip Cocu, when the club managed to defeat both SC Heerenveen and FC Utrecht by a two-goal margin following a dramatic period. But after three consecutive losses, one of which was against fellow strugglers Volendam, the ghosts of relegation are beginning to circle around the Gelredome.
Prior to this round, the distance between Vitesse and the relegation zone was just five points, which means that the team from Arnhem cannot count themselves safe yet despite having a much better squad on paper than most of their bottom-half rivals. With just two league wins on the board since the start of November (D6, L5), and a 4-0 loss in the reverse H2H earlier in the campaign, they also don’t have many positives to draw from ahead of this weekend.
Players to watch: Sparta’s Arno Verschueren is the only player of the Eredivisie (prior to this round) who had scored four times this season with a header. For the visitors, Maximilian Wittek provided an assist in two of his last four games against Sparta.
Hot stat: Just one of the last ten Eredivisie H2Hs saw both teams score on the day.