This evening round 22 of the Jupiler Pro League will be kicked off after a deserving winter break! At it promises to be an interesting round! Let's find out what this round has in petto for us!

KV Mechelen vs Standard

Both teams are fighting for a spot in PO I and are seperate by only 1 point! Currently Standard is standing on spot number 5, while Mechelen can be found one place below. The advantage they do have on number 7 has decreased over the weeks and is now only 3 points!
Before the winter break KV Mechelen did win back to win. Standard on the other side wasn't capable of winning their last 4 games before the winter break.

I do expect an interesting game in which at least both teams will score. While the home rep of KV Mechelen isn't great, the away rep for Standard is even worse!
A draw is very well possible in this game!

Eupen vs Charleroi

One could expect an easy win for Charleroi. But it is always hard to judge how teams do come out of the winter break! Charleroi is currently standing on the second position, Eupen on the other side is standing on position 13.
Eupen has the smallest pitch in the Jupiler Pro League which makes it always harder for the away team to find the gaps in their defense.
Still I do expect a victory for Charleroi!

Oostende vs Waasland Beveren

An important game for both teams! I do consider Oostende the worst team in the Jupiler Pro League. But with 2 surprising wins in their last 5 games (at home against Anderlecht and AA Gent) they have are currently standing 6 points above a relegation spot. And with only 9 games to go, they should be capable of saving themselves.

For Waasland Beveren the winter break did come at a bad moment after back to back wins. But they had a great signing with Piotrowski (rented from Genk).

I do expect an easy win for Waasland Beveren!

St Truiden vs Kortrijk

The regular season is more or less already over for both teams. The gap to fight for a PO I spot is too big, while they also have a too much advantage on number 16 to get into relegation problems.

STVV did loose Boli during the winter break, so I do consider them weakened. They still do have the advantage of the artificial pitch!

An easy win for Kortrijk?

Gent vs Mouscron

Just like STVV and Kortrijk, there isn't anything at stake anymore for Mouscron but a complete different situation for Gent, who could become the challenger of Club Brugge. I know with Club Brugge leading with 10 points it is hard to call another team in the JPL a challenger.

Nothing much to say about this game, besides that Gent will keep the 3 points home!

Cercle Brugge vs Antwerp

Cercle did some incoming transfers during the winter break, hoping that these signing could prevent them from regelating. And the second part of the season does start with a real challenge! The home game against Antwerp.
Antwerp currently stand on the shared 3rd position, due to two draws before the winter break. Like always they had some troubles duing the winter break with Lamkel Ze.

Lamkel Ze does give Antwerp something extra, but the rumors are that the dressing room is done with Lamkel! If this is the case, it could become an interesting second part of the season for Antwerp.

Based on the previous games, one should expect an easy win for Antwerp, but for once I will going for the big underdog Cercle. I still can't understand how it is possible that they are standing last!

Anderlecht vs Club Brugge

Club Brugge can make the season of Anderlecht an even bigger nightmare! If Anderlecht does not win this game, they can put the PO I dream in the closet until next year! And there are no signs that this is an impossible scenario!

Okay Club Brugge is the proud leader of the Jupiler Pro League (10 point lead) and did win all the important trophies at the player awards last Wednesday but winning at Anderlecht is no sinecure for Brugge! There teams are each others biggest rivals since I know!

While the season of Anderlecht has enough drama to make a Netflix serie about it, they always have something extra against Club Brugge. On top of the drama there only decent and real striker in injured again!

During the winter break they also welcomed again Vandenborre in the squad. A player which had so many changes at Anderlecht already! But he can be considered a son of Anderlecht and is a very good friend of Kompany. If Vandenborre had the mindset of Kompany he would have become a world class player! Believe it or not!

Back to the game! I do think Brugge will win this one but with a closer margin than most analyst would expect!

Waregem vs Genk

Both teams are chasing a PO I spot. So for both teams a win in this game is vital! In the first round this game was the first loss of Genk this season and the first win of Waregem! Losing this one doesn't mean that PO 1 is out of reach, but will make it extremely hard!

Genk did 2 incoming signings during the winter break but also did see Samata signing at Aston Villa! Samata did had too much bench time in the last games and always did dream of the Premier League! And most supporters will agree with me if I do say that we are happy for him that he finally got there! We will miss him!
Probably his benech time in the last games before the winter break was related with this upcoming leave! The other strikers in the team do have a complete different playing style than Samagoal has! So, new things had to be tried out! Curious how Wolf will solve this!

But this is not the only problem Genk has! For the second time this season, their first keeper did get an injury. Vandervoordt probably won't place again this season after over stretching his elbow this week. Surgery is necessary!

I really hope that Genk will win this game. Genk is playing completely differently then the previous game! So a win is possible. Also here I do expect that both teams will score. A draw is in my opinion out of the picture because drawing would more or less be the same as loosing, so a lot of risks will be taken after 60 minutes! Maybe the safest bet would be the over 2.5 goals.

Cheers,

Peter