Anderlecht vs Ajax

Lotto Park plays host to a tasty-looking summer friendly between Anderlecht and Ajax.

Last season couldn’t have gone much worse for the record-time Belgian champions Anderlecht as they had to settle for a humiliating 11th in the standings. Despite overseeing one of the club’s worst Belgian Pro League campaigns in modern history, under-fire manager Brian Riemer remains at the helm. A three-game winning streak fired Anderlecht’s pre-season to a flying start before an embarrassing 6-0 defeat to Sparta Prague last time out brought them back down to earth. Still, each of their four summer friendlies has featured 4+ total goals at an average of 5.5 per game, highlighting the potential for a high-scoring contest. Adding to this sentiment, three of their last five meetings with Ajax have produced over 2.5 goals.

In the meantime, Ajax thumped a downtrodden Shakhtar Donetsk side 3-0 in their last exhibition fixture to bounce back from a gut-wrenching 2-2 draw against second-tier Dutch outfit Den Bosch in their maiden summer friendly. A frustrating 3rd-place finish in last season’s Eredivisie saw the ‘Lancers’ sack underperforming manager John Heitinga and appoint Maurice Steijn as the new chief of staff. Things went from bad to worse in July as long-serving captain Dusan Tadic ended his association with the Amsterdam powerhouse to join Fenerbahce. Tadic’s absence could impact Ajax’s attacking output, but the Dutch heavyweights seem to be firing on all cylinders, netting 2+ goals in four of their last five outings.