- Sparta Rotterdam have won three, drawn one and lost only one of their last five Eredivisie matches.
- Almere City have won one, drawn two and lost two of their last five Eredivisie matches.
- Sparta Rotterdam have won one and drawn one of their last two Eredivisie away games.
Sparta Rotterdam have found a new lease of life in recent weeks, winning three, drawing one and losing only one of their last five Eredivisie matches, and they will be a tough nut for Almere City to crack on Saturday. Maurice Steijn took over the helm at Sparta in November 2024 and has given the team a renewed energy in pressing and playing with structure in their build-up. Sparta battled to a 1-1 away draw against Ajax before falling 2-0 at home to FC Twente in their last two fixtures. They sit 11th in the Eredivisie table with 35 points from 31 games, while Almere City are in 17th place with 20 points after the same number of fixtures.
Jeroen Rijsdijk took over at Almere in January 2025 and has kept their structure tight, but struggled to turn his team’s organisation into points. Almere have won two, drawn four and lost nine of their 15 Eredivisie home games in 2024-2025, scoring 0.80 goals per game and conceding 2.13. The hosts are pragmatic and reactive, changing their shape regularly and playing counterattacking football when they can. Sparta are a more proactive team, playing with high energy, pressing and moving the ball quickly. This tactical match-up should see Sparta dominate possession against an Almere City side that will try to stay compact and make a game of it. Sparta are a much improved team since Steijn took over and look capable of edging this contest, but Almere’s discipline should keep it tight.
Almere City have failed to win their last home clash against Sparta Rotterdam (2-2 draw at Sparta Rotterdam's home ground) and the visitors are in much better form than the home side right now. The odds on the match (Almere City 2.95, Draw 3.66, Sparta Rotterdam 2.47) have Sparta as narrow favourites and that looks about right, but we will take the Double Chance option of Sparta or Draw as the best bet here. Junior Kadile is Almere’s top scorer this season with four Eredivisie goals in 27 appearances (two in last five), while Tobias Lauritsen has nine in 30 for Sparta. Lauritsen is a consistent threat and Noekkvi Thorisson has added some firepower to the frontline, scoring three of Sparta’s last seven Eredivisie goals in the last five.
