Football Bet of the Day: Goals expected in Belgium on Saturday teatime

Saturday’s Football Bet of the Day see’s me delve into the Belgium top-tier and there’s a match that stands out to me for goals.

Mechelen vs Cercle Brugge

 🇧🇪 Pro League

⏰ Saturday 26th February, 17:30

Two sides who are aiming to finish in the Europa League playoff positions meet at the AFAS Stadion, as Mechelen host Cercle Brugge. The hosts come into this in 7th, just two points off Gent in 5th, whilst the visitors are 9th, seven points off their opponents.

Mechelen won away at 3rd placed Royal Antwerp last time out, extending their recent good run of form. Wouter Vrancken’s side come into winning four of their last five in the league, scoring 11 goals. Mechelen are one of the leagues highest scoring sides, particularly at home, with 29 of their 48 goals coming at home. They’ve scored in 12/14 at home, scoring on multiple occasions in 10 of those. Mechelen have conceded in 22/27 of their matches this season, with them possessing the sixth-worst defensive record in the division, conceding 46 goals.

Cercle Brugge ended their three-match winless run last time out, as they won 2-0 at home to bottom-side Beerschot-Wilrijk. Prior to those four matches, Dominik Thalhammer’s side had eight of their last nine matches, only losing to league leaders Union St Gilloise. Cercle Brugge are one of only two sides to score in every away match this season, finding the back of the net on 23 occasions. The Black and Greens have kept just seven clean sheets in the league this season, with four of those coming against the current bottom-four sides in the league.

Bet of the Day

Both Mechelen and Cercle Brugge are in and around the Europa League playoff positions and come into this in good form. The hosts come into this winning four of their last five, whilst the visitors have won nine of their last 13. These two have scored in 46/55 of their combined matches this season, scoring 88 goals and will be confident of getting on the scoresheet once more. Despite how good they are going forward, both do concede goals, managing just 12 clean sheets between them. Given both sides records at both ends of the pitch, I think we’ll see goals here and I’m expecting both sides to score and for there to be three or more goals, a selection that came up in the reverse fixture.

• Mechelen vs Cercle Brugge – Both Teams to Score & Over 2.5 Goals
• Pays 21/20 (Betway/William Hill)

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