After a summer of turnover at Ajax in which Erik ten Hag and a number of players left the Amsterdam club, could this be the season PSV Eindhoven, Feyenoord, or another Dutch club claim the Eredivisie title? Matchday No. 1 will tell us plenty about the season to come.
Ajax start their title defence at Fortuna Sittard. Ajax won the last six head-to-head matches versus Fortuna. All six saw over 2.5 goals and five of the six featured over 3.5 goals.
Fortuna Sittard are back in the Eredivise after a season away. They will hope to make a strong impression on matchday No. 1 against the kings of the Netherlands.
Ajax limp into the first day of the campaign. New manager Alfred Schreuder, fresh from Club Brugge, watched the team lose 5-3 to last season’s Dutch Cup winners, PSV Eindhoven, in the Dutch Super Cup last weekend. Still, Ajax are massive favourites to defeat Fortuna Sittard.
Last season’s runner-up and Dutch Cup winners, PSV Eindhoven, face off with FC Emmen. PSV won the Super Cup last weekend 5-3 against Ajax in fine fashion. Emmen have not defeated PSV Eindhoven in their last five meetings posting a record of 0W-2D-3L.
PSV finished second to Ajax last term with 81 points, two off of the league champions. The Lightbulbs had a home record of 14W-0D-3L. PSV did play a midweek Champions League qualifier away to Monaco. The match ended 1-1.
Emmen are back in the Eredivisie after winning the second division last term. Many of the same players came up to the Eredivisie with the squad. The quality may be lacking for Emmen and PSV will surely take advantage of a gulf in class.
Feyenoord were beaten by Roma in the Europa Conference League final last season. The loss shouldn’t take away from what was a fine season. Vitesse finished sixth in the league table but were 20 points behind third-place Feyenoord at the end of the campaign.
Vitesse have been excellent against Feyenoord in their last six head-to-head matches. The Black and Yellow posted three wins and three draws from six games.
Feyenoord finished last season with three straight road wins. The Rotterdammers had an 11W-2D-4L record on the road in 2021-22 in the league. One of those four road losses came at the hands of Vitesse.
AZ Alkmaar have dominated Go Ahead Eagles across the teams’ last six head-to-head matchups. The Cheeseheads have a record of 5W-1D-0L with each of the last four games ending with over 3.5 goals.
Go Ahead Eagles finished 13th last term and lost each of their last five games. The Eagles had a home record of 7W-1D-9L.
AZ Alkmaar ended the regular season in fourth place. They failed to win four consecutive matches to finish the campaign. AZ Alkmaar had an away record of 7W-4D-6L.