Next Friday, the first match in round two of the Eredivisie is scheduled: RKC Waalwijk – AZ Alkmaar. The team from Alkmaar will visit a team in Waalwijk that is aiming for the first points of this season. The match will be played in the Mandemakers Stadium in Waalwijk. Will AZ win three points in this away match or will RKC take the first points of the season? Play along and discover who has the highest odds via VoetbalGokken.nl!
Henk Fraser (RKC trainer): “Imitate chest for AZ Alkmaar match”
RKC Waalwijk is still dangling at the bottom of the Eredivisie rankings. They also failed to score a point last weekend. The team of trainer Henk Fraser hopes to change that on Friday against AZ. The team from Alkmaar will then visit the Brabant club. “We can prepare ourselves for Friday against AZ Alkmaar. We can play some decent football. But being combative and playing with passion is also an important aspect, especially at the bottom of the Eredivisie,” says the trainer of RKC.
“Throwing duelling strength and passion into the battle against AZ”
RKC Waalwijk played one home match this season. AZ is the second opponent that RKC will face in the Mandemakers Stadium this season. Fraser hopes that a point can be taken against AZ in front of their home crowd. “I think we should take our points at home. It is not that we are going to adjust our entire training program this week to fighting and duel strength, but you do point it out a little more. We play in a very strong competition with big clubs, so you will have to put duel strength and passion into the battle,” Fraser explains.
Maarten Martens (AZ coach): “Play more dominantly against RKC”
AZ Alkmaar won the first two games of the season and wanted to continue that trend in the away game against FC Groningen. AZ took a point from the Euroborg and AZ coach Maarten Martens is not satisfied with that, although the coach believes that it will be different at RKC in Waalwijk. “We know that we have to do better. We have a lot of quality and believe that the confidence will come. We have to be more dominant against RKC and that will create more chances so that we can score more often,” says the AZ coach.
“Demonstrating the same stability again”
Martens looks back at the first two matches of the season in which six points were taken. His team must gain confidence from those matches when it plays against RKC in Waalwijk next Friday. “We want to show the same stability again and look from there to make it very difficult for RKC”, Martens concludes.
Statistics
After three rounds, PSV Eindhoven is at the top with nine points. The Eindhoven team has nine points and the maximum from the first three matches. AZ Alkmaar is in fourth place. Martens’ team has seven points, two less than the leader in Eindhoven. RKC Waalwijk is in seventeenth place. Together with PEC Zwolle and Almere City, the team in Waalwijk has not yet won a point in this competition season.
Head 2 Head
In Waalwijk, RKC and AZ last played on August 20 last year. Just over a year ago, AZ won 1-3 against RKC in the Mandemakers Stadium. In Alkmaar, AZ also won 3-2 against RKC last season. The last time the Brabant team managed to keep the three points at home after AZ’s visit was on November 6, 2022. On that day, RKC won 3-1 against the Alkmaar team.
Current form RKC Waalwijk
Last weekend RKC Waalwijk played away at Go Ahead Eagles. Fraser’s team lost that match 2-0 in the Adelaarshorst in Deventer. The first two matches were also lost by the team from Waalwijk. The away match at PSV in Eindhoven was lost 5-1. A week later it became 1-2 in the home match against FC Groningen.
Current form AZ Alkmaar
AZ Alkmaar collected seven points from three matches. In the first round, Martens’ team faced Almere City and won that match 0-1 thanks to a goal by Ibrahim Sadiq that was scored in the fourth minute of the match. They then won 1-0 against NEC Nijmegen in the AFAS Stadium in Alkmaar. Last weekend, Martens and his team visited FC Groningen where they failed to score. AZ and FC Groningen shared the points in the event of a draw: 0-0.
Rag basket
At RKC Waalwijk, Nouri El-Harmazi has been out for a long time. The midfielder has had a shoulder injury since last year. Luuk Wouters will also not be in action against AZ due to an injury.
At AZ Alkmaar, the sick bin is far from empty. Ernest Poku, Lewis Schouten, Dave Kwakman, Bruno Martens Indi, Mees de Wit, Mayckel Lahdo and Sem Westerveld are among the injured players in the team.
Prediction RKC Waalwijk – AZ Alkmaar
Of VoetbalGokken.nl The prognosis for this match is a win for AZ Alkmaar. We predict that AZ will win 0-3 in the Mandemakers Stadium in Waalwijk. Also want to bet on the match between RKC and AZ? Then play along via the bookmakers on VoetbalGokken.nl and score with your football knowledge in Eredivisie matches.
The Dutch bookmakers have high pre-odds ready and a bet can now be placed on RKC – AZ. Live betting on this Friday evening duel is possible when the match starts in Waalwijk.
Odds for RKC Waalwijk – AZ Alkmaar
At the Dutch bookmakers, the pre-odds for a victory of RKC Waalwijk are the highest in this duel. The bookmakers pay out up to 5.66 times the stake if the Brabant team wins.
In the event of a draw, the odds in the 1×2 system increase to a maximum value of 4.35 times the stake. Even in the event of a draw in the Mandemakers Stadium, a big reward can be scored.
Will AZ Alkmaar return to the cheese city of North Holland with three points? Then up to 1.55 times the stake will be paid out by the Dutch bookmakers.
