Dutch League Preview

This column promises not to be making any puns on Ajax taking sides to the cleaners and instead will concentrate on the Football, here is our guide to the teams in the Eredivisie this season.

Ajax: The defending champions are 13/8 (Stan James) to claim a third successive league title. This season could be tougher after the loss of club captain Jan Vertonghen to Tottenham, doubled with the demands of playing in the Champions League. The Dutch side have so far resisted the urge to sell Christian Eriksen and keeping hold of the Dane will be key. Eriksen and goalscoring duo Siem De Jong and Miralem Sulejmani were the main reasons why the side scored a league high 93 goals last season. In terms of signings Frank De Boer has been a little quiet, with Danish midfielder Lasse Schone the only addition of note. Ajax warmed up for the season with a mini tour of England and Scotland where they impressed many observers with their brand of slick passing football. It would be no shock to see them celebrating again at the end of the season.

PSV: At 11/4(Blue Sq/888sport) PSV are expected to provide the main challenge to Ajax despite only coming third last year. The main reason for such optimisim is that Dick Advocaat is the man at the helm this season. Advocaat returns to club Football after two years managing international side Russia. PSV fans will hope their side plays the football the way the Russians did in some spells of the Euros (though with slightly better results). They have signed a number of players this summer including the highly rated 21-year-old Luciano Narsingh. Narsingh has already two caps at international level and along with forward Dries Mertens should provide the creative output for this team. Mark Van Bommel is not everybody’s favourite player but his veteran presence will help. PSV showed Ajax they mean business when beating the league champions 4-2 in the Dutch Supercup.

FEYERNOOD: Feyernood have been pushed out to fifth favourites by bookmakers (9/1-Bwin) despite finishing second last season. This could be due to the loss of striker John Guidetti who grabbed 20 league goals for them last season. The Swede has returned to his parent club Man City and coach Ronald Koeman must try replace his goals from somewhere. Koeman will hope a combination of Lex Immers and Norwegian midfielder Omar Elabdellaoui (another Man City loanee) will do the business.

AZ ALKMAAR: It has been a typical summer for AZ Alkmaar as some players have left the club (including Brett Holman and Ragnar Klavan), but Alkmaar will always be dangerous opponents. Although they do not have the depth to compete for the title (7/1 general) they might bloody a few noses during the season and look for them to finish top four again.

FC TWENTE: After a disastrous spell at Nottingham Forest Steve McClaren is back on board at FC Twente and it is 8/1 (general) that the Englishman leads them to the title like he did in 2009/10. Money has been spent as Twente have brought in Luc Castaignos and Duzan Tadic (among others) and they should push on from their sixth placed finish last season.

It is hard to get away from the view that Ajax and PSV are the stand out teams this season and including the pair in a straight forecast looks the best betting option. BetVictor go 9/2 that Ajax finish top and PSV second, while a reversal of those position is 6/1 and this looks like the way to clean up (sorry).

Go To bet365

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09/08/2012     © Frixo 2024