Despite the draw against FC Utrecht last Thursday, the title aspirations will still be unprecedented at Ajax. The 35th national title is approaching, but Ajax no longer has it in its own hands. The same applies to AZ in the battle for place two, but the Alkmaarders seem to be in better shape than competitor PSV. A competition with enormous interests for both teams, which we look forward to with great enthusiasm in collaboration with TOTO.
Ajax can become the first team to win the Eredivisie with four rounds to go since PSV in 2004/05, the team from Amsterdam managed to do that themselves once before (in 1997/98 with five rounds to go). Then PSV has to miss points at home against FC Groningen and has to win against AZ itself, something that has already been successful for two this season. In January Ajax was too strong for AZ in Alkmaar with 0-1 and 0-3: the first time in the battle for the TOTO KNVB Cup and then in competition. Erik ten Hag seems to have found the key to cracking Pascal Jansen’s team, after three defeats in a row. In the two mutual encounters of this season, Ajax scored fifteen shots on goal and AZ only got five shots between the posts in these two duels. The omens are good with the Amsterdammers, is that also reflected on Sunday?
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AZ has won the last four league matches, while no other Eredivisie team is currently more than two victories in a row. The momentum therefore certainly seems to lie with AZ, which is engaged in a fierce battle for second place with PSV. In addition, the Alkmaarders won nine of the last ten Eredivisie matches with the traditional top three (one defeat), of which four of the five this season. AZ only took more points against Ajax, Feyenoord and PSV in 1980/81 (fifteen, converted to a three-point system) than this season (twelve). A nice side effect for AZ is that it managed to keep Ajax from scoring in three of the last four Eredivisie encounters. The team from Amsterdam does not score easily in April (eight goals in six games), does that break the team against the defensively strong AZ?
Will AZ keep the goal clean against Ajax? Click here for the quotation.
AZ striker Myron Boadu made eight of his twelve league goals this season after the winter break. Five of these hits came in duels with teams from the traditional top three, something he already did five times before. Boadu is the third player ever to score at least ten Eredivisie goals against the traditional top-three for his 21st birthday, after Ronald Koeman (eleven) and Arnold Bruggink (ten). In his three league matches with Ajax, Boadu scored twice, including one goal last season. Only against Feyenoord did Boadu score more often in the Eredivisie (six times) than against Ajax (two goals). Add to this that AZ needs the fewest shots of all teams for a goal this Eredivisie season (six shots, one goal) and knows that they can be life-threatening for Ajax’s title aspirations.
Is Myron Boadu accurate again in the Johan Cruijff Arena on Sunday? View the quotation here!
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