Belgium vs. Netherlands: preview and betting tips

The highlight of Thursday’s Nations League programme will be the duel between Belgium and the Netherlands. The participants of this year’s World Cup will want to enter the third season of the new competition victorious, what to expect from the match?

Belgium’s golden generation, led by captain Kevin De Bruyne, is slowly leaving and is still waiting for a proper success. At last year’s Euros, they finished in the quarter-finals just like five years ago, and have won only one of their last three matches.

The Netherlands, on the other hand, have picked themselves up after a botched Euro and have won six of their last eight games. It qualified for the World Cup in Qatar relatively quickly and can now look forward to the prestigious matches in Group A of the Nations League.

Belgium relies on midfielder De Bruyne, who has scored nineteen goals and assisted sixteen more this season for Manchester City. Leicester’s central midfielder Youri Tielemans has netted seven times and assisted five.

Memphis Depay, the top scorer in the European qualification for the World Cup, has scored thirteen times for Barcelona this season and assisted on two goals. Eindhoven’s talented forward Cody Gakpo scored twenty-one goals and assisted sixteen times.

Belgium relies on a goal-scoring attack, scoring more than once in five of their last seven games since the end of the Euros.

The Dutch have scored at least four goals on six of the last eight occasions, scoring four or more four times.

Given the De Bruyne factor, I think Belgium will outshoot their opponents and win.