Utrecht vs Heracles Match Preview

Utrecht comes from one more mediocre performance that ended with a loss, 1-0 to Vitesse on the road. They conceded early in the first half, actually, opponents could have scored more goals. Utrecht didn’t manage to balance the game at any point of the whole 90 minutes so they couldn’t find the equalizer. Having a single win in the most recent eleven outings (vs last-placed Emmen) Utrecht lost many places in the standings and now they are deservedly sitting in the second half.

First choice goalkeeper M. Paes remains injured, as well as cental defenders T. St. Jago, E. Bergstrom and, winger E. Elia. More rotation is expected from coach R. Hake, who looks for some fresh legs in his squad.

Heracles had an easy task vs bottom-placed Emmen, scoring four times in a comfortable 4-0. Now they are 11th-placed, having an 8-point margin from the red zone. Playing on the road is not a big issue from them recently having two consecutive wins, while earlier they have played a bore draw at Rotterdam vs Feyenoord.

Center back M. Knoester is still out of the squad due to his injury, as well as midfielder T. Bijleveld. Additionally, M. Rente is not 100% fit and his participation is a last-minute decision.

Utrecht is coming from 4 home draws in the row and has no other selection than to win in this one. Heracles, on the other side, has a nice away winning streak that has boosted their morale in this tough road game.

The home win is offered in quite low odds that cannot reflect the fact that these two sides are in the same place in the standings, having 18 points each and also the fact that the visitors are coming from some decent away results. I’ll take the risk and I’ll pick the away win here, the odds above 5.00 are too juicy to be missed.