Based on the statistics, we look ahead to the 27th round in the Eredivisie. Ajax has been unbeaten at home against Feyenoord for years and is also now the big favorite in the Classic. AZ seems to have lost top form, but will meet an opponent in Willem II who has not scored in five matches.
Ajax – Feyenoord
Quick hit is three points:
A quick goal during Ajax – Feyenoord is a guarantee for a victory. Ajax opened the scoring six times within five minutes and all three points remained in Amsterdam. John Rep (1973), Jesper Olsen (1983), Tijjani Babangida (1997), Rafael van der Vaart (2003), Lasse Schöne (2017) and Hakim Ziyech (2019) were the scorers. Cor van der Gijp (1959) once opened the score for Feyenoord at lightning speed, but Ajax also won then.
Balance per decade:
Ajax has only lost three times to Feyenoord since 2010. In that period they won nineteen times and tied six times. Also in the four decades before that Ajax has a positive balance, with the nineties as the highlight. In the sixties, Feyenoord was the strongest in the mutual encounters with twelve victories in 26 matches.
March 20 not Ajax’s favorite date:
Four times before, Ajax played at home on March 20. Only twice did that result in a win. In 2005 it went terribly wrong against PSV: 0-4. Frank de Boer’s team made up for that somewhat in 2016 by winning 2-0 in Eindhoven on March 20.
Last six won:
Of the 65 previous times that Ajax – Feyenoord was played, the team from Amsterdam only lost eleven times. That has only happened twice this century (in 2001 and 2005). Ajax managed to win 38 times at home from the Rotterdam team, including the last six matches.
Ajax scores 92 percent of the matches:
It has only happened five times that Ajax failed to score at home against Feyenoord. Twice it was 0-0 and three times it ended 0-1. That means the Classic in Amsterdam has never ended like earlier this season in Rotterdam: 0-2.
Ajax – Feyenoord starts tomorrow afternoon at 2.30 pm.
William II – AZ
Tilburgers not in shape:
Willem II has only taken one point in the last five league matches. That is also one of the reasons that trainer Fred Grim and technical director Joris Mathijsen are fired† The Tricolores also failed to score in those last five games. Four times they lost 1-0 and against sc Heerenveen it ended as it started.
Difficult phase AZ:
AZ is also suddenly having a hard time. After a series of eighteen unbeaten games, the team of coach Pascal Jansen has only won twice in the last five games. Last Thursday’s home win over FK Bodø/Glimt was not enough to advance in the Conference League. They lost against Ajax (cup), FC Twente and a visit to Bodø/Glimt.
Old acquaintances:
It is a special duel for Vangelis Pavlidis. The Greek striker played 2.5 seasons with Willem II and scored 31 goals in that period. Last summer he made the switch to AZ. Thijs Oosting took the opposite route this winter, but is unable to play due to an injury. Previously, for example, Mounir El Hamdaoui, Mousa Dembélé, Joris Mathijsen and Denny Landzaat also played for both clubs. Landzaat is currently Kevin Hofland’s assistant coach at the Brabanders.
In balance:
We cannot say that three points for AZ is a certainty in Tilburg. In the thirty previous encounters, twelve were won, ten lost and eight times there was no winner. In the last three seasons, both teams have won once and tied once.
Only first time without goals:
It only happened once that Willem II and AZ did not score in Tilburg. That was during the first edition in 1968. Since then, one of the two teams could cheer at least once 29 times in a row.
Willem II – AZ starts tomorrow evening at 8 p.m.