Ajax travel to Vitesse on Wednesday night in the quarterfinals of the KNVB Cup. The capital club won the trophy last season and aim for yet another win of the cup.
Eight teams are left in the 2019-20 KNVB Cup competition as AZ Alkmaar, NAC Breda, Go Ahead Eagles, Utrecht, Heerenveen, and Feyenoord join Vitesse and Ajax in the quarterfinal round.
Ajax are not only playing well in the cup competition, but the league too. The Dutch club are on their way to winning another league title, although just three points separate them with second-placed AZ Alkmaar currently.
Erik ten Hag’s team has lost just five times in 33 matches in all competitions this term. Three of those losses shockingly came in the Eredivisie giving AZ Alkmaar a glimmer of hope in the title race. Ajax did defeat league rival PSV Eindhoven in their last league match 1-0 to stay a step ahead of AZ Alkmaar.
Last weekend’s fixture versus Utrecht was postponed until a later date due to the winter weather hitting northern Europe. Vitesse, on the other hand, did play at the weekend, losing to FC Groningen, 1-0. Since winning in the last 16 of the KNVB Cup against Hercules, Vitesse are winless in three straight matches.
Vitesse have seen seven of their last nine games in all competitions end with both teams not scoring. That trend is unlikely to occur versus Ajax, who have scored goals for fun this season.
Ajax have already scored 92 goals in all competitions and average 2.79 scores per match. Away from home, the capital club average 2.35 goals per fixture. Vitesse should find it difficult to slow down the Ajax attack, especially after the cup holders had the weekend off.
Five of the last nine games between Vitesse and Ajax saw both teams score goals. Six of those same nine matches ended with over 2.5 goals tallied. Both trends should occur once more on Wednesday night when the teams meet at the Gelredome.
Ajax will be without centre-back Joel Veltman for the foreseeable future. He suffered a knee injury versus PSV Eindhoven that is worse than first believed. Veltman will be replaced by either Perr Schuurs or Edson Alvarez.
Could the shake-up in defence give Vitesse an opportunity to score goals and win in the KNVB Cup quarterfinals? Expect the home side to score, but not to win versus Ajax.
The cup holders will pick up a win with over 2.5 goals going into the back of the net at the Gelredome on Wednesday night.