Newly-crowned Belgian Pro League champions Club Brugge will host Anderlecht on Sunday in the final round of fixtures of the season in the top flight.
Having only needed to match Union SG's tally to secure the title, the home side find themselves three points clear at the summit of the playoff group, while their visitors cannot move from third place.
Match preview
In their bid to win a third straight Belgian Pro League title, Club Brugge faced particularly stiff competition, as Union SG held onto top spot for the vast majority of the campaign, and an eye-catching run of eight straight wins following Alfred Schreuder's appointment saw them move within five points of the leaders at the end of the regular season.
That left them with plenty of work to do in the six-game playoff round, although they did know that a tie on points would see them win the title as Union SG's tally was rounded up heading into the Championship Group due to them finishing on odd points after the regular campaign.
Following a win over Royal Antwerp and a draw with Sunday's opponents, Schrouder's men headed into decisive back-to-back clashes with the league leaders, and Hans Vanaken and Antonio Nusa netted goals in a 2-0 away victory before an Anthony Moris own goal made the difference in a 1-0 win on home turf in the following game.
Those crucial back-to-back wins saw the Blauw-Zwart move three points clear at the summit, and they were able to maintain that gap and confirm their triumph with a 3-1 win away at Royal Antwerp last time out, thanks to goals from Vanaken, Jack Hendry and Sargis Adamyan.
With their 18th league title now sealed and Schrouder set to depart for Ajax in the summer, Club Brugge will look to end another successful domestic season on a high in their boss's last game before preparing for another title pursuit and Champions League campaign next term.
Anderlecht, meanwhile, come into the game unable to improve on their position in third place as a result of the two runaway sides at the top of the division.
Vincent Kompany's side finished the regular season impressively with six wins from their last nine outings, putting them four points behind Club Brugge going into the final six matches, but their playoff campaign got off to a tough start as they were beaten 3-1 by Union SG.
After forcing a commendable draw with Sunday's opponents, the Purple and White thrashed Royal Antwerp 4-0 away from home, with Francis Amuzu hitting a hat-trick, before he was again on the scoresheet alongside Sergio Gomez in a 2-1 win in the reverse fixture.
They were not able to build on that last time out, though, again losing to Union SG as the second-placed side picked up a relatively comfortable 2-0 win over their Brussels rivals.
Now confined to a third-placed finish, Anderlecht will look to end with a win over another of their rivals on Sunday as Kompany's men aim to build confidence ahead of next season.
- W
- W
- D
- W
- W
- W
- W
- L
- D
- W
- W
- L
- L
- L
- D
- W
- W
- L
Team News
Club Brugge could welcome winger Tajon Buchanan back to action on Sunday after he served a suspension last time out for a red card shown against Union SG.
Charles De Ketelaere is a star man going forward, with the 21-year-old boasting 18 goals in all competitions this season, while exciting attacker Noa Lang should also play a key role, having found the net seven times and provided 14 assists in the Belgian top flight this term.
Denis Odoi and Jack Hendry will both be fighting to come back into the defence after being reduced to substitute appearances last time out.
Anderlecht will be without defender Michael Murillo, who is suspended for the weekend after he was sent off last time out.
Young striker Joshua Zirkzee has impressed since his arrival on loan from Bayern Munich, netting 16 goals and providing 11 assists across the regular league season and the playoffs, and he will continue to feature in the attacking line.
He should again be joined by Christian Kouame, who has notched up four assists in five playoff games after scoring nine times in the regular campaign.
Club Brugge possible starting lineup:
Mignolet; Hendry, Mechele, N'Soki; Balanta; Buchanan, Vanaken, De Ketelaere, Sobol; Lang, Adamyan
Anderlecht possible starting lineup:
Van Crombrugge; Mykhaylichenko, Delcroix, Hoedt, Gomez; Arnstad, Cullen, Kana, Amuzu; Zirkzee, Kouame
We say: Club Brugge 2-1 Anderlecht
Full of confidence from their latest league triumph, we see Club Brugge continuing their impressive run of form with another win on the final day.
The two teams each possess the tools to hurt one another, but, with home advantage, we just give the edge to the Blauw-Zwart.
For additional data used by our team to analyse our suggested result please click here.
Top tip
body check tags ::
Previews by email
