Two sides who have had contrasting starts to the new Belgian Pro League campaign go head to head as Mechelen play host to Anderlecht at the AFAS Stadion on Saturday.
While the home side have failed to win any of their opening three matches, the Purple & White could surge to the top of the standings with all three points this weekend.
Match preview
© Imago
Mechelen failed to secure their first win of the 2024-25 Pro League season as they played out a goalless draw with Standard Liege when the two sides squared off last Friday.
While a total of 26 shots were fired at the Stade Maurice Dufrasne, neither goalkeeper would end up picking the ball out of the back of the net, with a draw being a fair result upon reflection.
Prior to that, Mechelen turned in a resilient team display in the season curtain-raiser as they fought from behind to salvage a 1-1 stalemate with Club Brugge on July 26.
However, Besnik Hasi's men failed to build on their opening-day result as they suffered a 4-2 defeat at the hands of Westerlo one week later, when Nicolas Madsen, Luka Vuskovic, Josimar Alcocer and Matija Frigan hit the target to hand De Kemphanen all three points.
Next up for Mechelen is the stern challenge of taking on an opposing side who are unbeaten in seven of their last eight encounters, picking up three wins and four draws since August 2020.
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Anderlecht, on the other hand, were made to rue their wasteful display in front of goal as they were held to a somewhat disappointing 1-1 draw by Oud-Heverlee Leuven at Lotto Park last Saturday.
After falling behind to a 35th-minute opener from Denmark international Kasper Dolberg, Mathieu Maertens netted on the stroke of half time to pull Leuven level before they held firm in the second half to see out the draw.
Last week's result at Lotto Park saw the Purple and White's 100% record in the league come to an end as they kicked off the campaign with a 1-0 victory over Sint-Truiden on July 27, one week before seeing off Royal Antwerp 2-1 at the Bosuilstadion.
Anderlecht's solid start to the season has been in keeping with their impressive run of results in pre-season, where they won five of their six warm-up matches while scoring 18 goals and conceding seven.
Brian Riemer's side have set out to improve on their performance from last season, where they finished with 46 points in the Championship Round to clinch third-place in the standings, just four points off league winners Club Brugge.
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Team News
![Hasi Besnik head coach of KV Mechelen issues instructions to his players during the Jupiler Pro League match between Club Brugge and KV Mechelen at the Jan Breydel stadium - July 26, 2024 [on August 1, 2024]](https://sm.imgix.net/24/31/hasi-besnik.jpg?w=640&h=480&auto=compress,format&fit=clip "Hasi Besnik head coach of KV Mechelen issues instructions to his players during the Jupiler Pro League match between Club Brugge and KV Mechelen at the Jan Breydel stadium - July 26, 2024 [on August 1, 2024]")
© Imago
Mechelen will take to the pitch without experienced midfielder Mory Konate, who is set for an extended period on the sidelines after recently picking up a knee injury.
Rafik Belghali missed the game against Standard Liege last weekend due to a knock and the 21-year-old defender is also a doubt for Saturday's matchup.
Jules Van Cleemput was forced off injured in the aforementioned game, and should he fail to shake off the injury, 23-year-old Toon Raemaekers could come into the starting side this weekend.
Anderlecht suffered a huge blow last week, with skipper Jan Vertonghen confirmed to have sustained an Achilles tendon injury, and the 37-year-old is set for a few weeks on the sidelines.
He is joined on the Purple and White's injury list by 22-year-old Marco Kana, who had been out of action since May, while Thorgan Hazard is currently recuperating from an ACL injury.
Mechelen possible starting lineup:
De Wolf; Raemaekers, Vanheusden, Marsa; Pflucke, Mohammed, Schoofs, Foulon; Mrabti, Bafdili, Lauberbach
Anderlecht possible starting lineup:
Coosemans; Sardella, Simic, Leoni, N'Diaye; Ashimeru, Rits, Stroeykens, Dreyer; Dolberg, Verschaeren
We say: Mechelen 1-2 Anderlecht
Mechelen have stumbled into the new campaign and will need to be at their best this weekend as they take on an Anderlecht side who have hit the ground running.
Riemer's men have enjoyed the better of this fixture in recent years and we predict that their quality will hand them all three points this weekend.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joshua Ojele
