The Belgian First Division A season is almost complete and the Championship Round group features the clash between 2nd placed Genk and 3rd placed Antwerp with a precious three points up for grabs as the competition for European places intensifies at the Luminus Arena.
With just two matches of their Belgian top flight campaign remaining, Genk find themselves five points adrift of the Championship group leaders, Club Brugge, but a win on Thursday evening could reduce the deficit to just two points before Genk’s final match of the season against Club Brugge.
Overall results have seen Genk suffer just the one defeat out of their last 10 matches in the First Division A which came in the shape of a 3-2 loss away at Thursday night’s opponents, Antwerp, back in mid-April.
However, that has been Genk’s only slip-up for some time and they now return to their Luminus Arena for this clash on the back of seven wins during this 10-match period, while also being unbeaten in their last five at home.
Royal Antwerp are still without a win in the Championship group since the end of the First Division A regular season as the visitors have suffered defeats against Genk (3-2 at home) and a 2-1 loss away at Club Brugge, along with being held to draws by Anderlecht and Club Brugge.
Indeed, Antwerp’s recent form in the Belgian top flight hasn’t been entirely convincing as the visitors have managed to register just four wins out of their last 12 matches overall, while results away from home have also been inconsistent.
Antwerp have won just two of their last six matches on the road and although one of these victories was an impressive 2-0 win at Club Brugge back in March, they’ve struggled to maintain that level of performance and were duly beaten by Club Brugge 2-1 last time out on their travels.
The bigger picture shows that Antwerp have managed to keep just four clean sheets in their last 19 matches away from home and their record on the road against Thursday’s hosts, Genk, has also been poor in previous exchanges.
Genk are unbeaten in each of their previous 11 meetings at home against Antwerp and the hosts look set to preserve this unbeaten record on Thursday night