Club - Genk: the Club Facts

THE MATCH

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This is the 74th confrontation between the two teams in First Division. The previous 36 home matches ended in 22 wins (last time 3-2 on 12/05/2019), 7 draws (last time 1-1 on 01/09/2019) and 7 defeats (last time 0-2 on 27/10/2013) for Club. Club is already 10 home matches (7 wins, 3 draws) in a row unbeaten against the Limburgers. It has been more than 7 years since KRC Genk came back to win at Club. In the last 10 meetings, Club lost only once (3-1 on 14/04/2019) with 5 wins and 4 draws in addition.

Club increased its lead over KRC Genk to 9 points after the past midweek matchday. After the defeat of Zulte Waregem, Club is the only team yet to lose any points in the return round of the league. In the second half of the season, Club already scored 13 times and only conceded 2 goals.

Clement can count on Hans Vanaken, who was suspended for 3 match days after his red card against KAS Eupen. Vanaken already scored 10 times in his career against KRC Genk: 4 times for Sporting Lokeren and 6 times for Club. Ruud Vormer is Club Brugge's assist king (8 assists) after his 2 assists last match day. With Bas Dost (1 goal / 65,7 min) and Paul Onuachu (1 goal / 80,5 min) the 2 most efficient strikers of First Class face each other and with Club (45 goals) and Racing (44 goals) the 2 best scoring teams of the Jupiler Pro League.

THE OPPONENT

The season did not start so well for Genk. After the home defeat against Club, German coach Hannes Wolf was sacked. With Jess Thorup, the Limburgers seemed to have found a successful successor, but the Dane left Racing after 5 match days to join top club FC Copenhagen. On Nov. 9, former Anderlecht coach John van den Brom was appointed. The Dutchman became champion of Belgium in 2013, but was fired the following season in March 2014. This was followed by five seasons at Dutch side AZ Alkmaar. In the summer of 2019 he moved to FC Utrecht after which now followed Genk.

With 17 out of 33, Genk is the 3rd best away team after Club Brugge (26/33) and Zulte Waregem (19/30). It won at Zulte Waregem (1-2), AA Gent (1-2), STVV (1-2), Cercle Brugge (1-5) and KAS Eupen (1-4), played equal at Standard (0-0) and Waasland-Beveren (1-1) and lost at Beerschot (5-2), Anderlecht (1-0), KV Kortrijk (2-1) and Excel Mouscron (2-0). The 1-on-9, in which Genk lost at Kortrijk and Mouscron in addition to the draw against Ghent, sees Club move further away in the standings. If it were to lose at Jan Breydel, the deficit would already be 12 points.

Genk already scored 8 goals from outside the penalty area, more than any other club in the Jupiler Pro League. But Club Brugge is the only club yet to score a goal from outside the 16 this season. The man to keep an eye on is Paul Onuachu. The Nigerian striker has already scored 20 times in 21 league matches. For Genk, he did not yet score against Club Brugge. In the previous 3 encounters, he played only once: a late substitute. However, for his previous Club FC Midtjylland, he was able to score once at Jan Breydel. In 2015, he entered the UEL group stage then with a 1-3 win in Bruges. KRC Genk's last 4 goals on loan were all scored by Onuachu.

On average, only 1.9 Belgians line up at Genk. Only for Excel Mouscron do fewer Belgians start on average (1.6). KRC Genk also kept a clean sheet only 3 times this season. Only Beerschot (1) and Cercle Brugge (2) are doing worse. No club in the Jupiler Pro League received as many penalties as KRC Genk. Against KAA Gent, they were allowed to kick from the spot for the 10th time already. Patrik Hrošovský, Eboue Kouassi, Jhon Lucumí and Paul Onuachu are all on alert. With another yellow card, they are yellow-suspended for the home match against Zulte Waregem.

MILPALS

Bas Dost was also able to score again in his 3rd game. With that he equals the record of Jankauskas, Dennis, Okereke and Rosenthal who could all score in their first 3 league matches. Ruud Vormer thickened his number of assists to 81. Along with his 54 goals, the captain was already involved in 135 Bridge goals.

Last season, Mignolet was also able to stop 2 penalties from Neto and Ndenbe in the 1/8th final of the cup against KVO. This season, only 40% of the 5 penalty kicks the Limburg goalie faced went in. KRC Genk kicked a penalty on the post and against Standard he stopped a penalty by Maxime Lestienne. Only Waasland-Beveren and Beerschot had more penalties against them (both 7) than Club Brugge (6).

Hans Vanaken can play his 270th game for Club Brugge. Stefano Denswil can be in action for the 180th time for Blauw-Zwart. For Youssouph Badji, it may be the 20th match at Club. Ruud Vormer can play his 220th league match for Club. Brandon Mechele and Mats can play their 190th and 80th league match respectively at FCB.

THE REFEREE

Lawrence Visser was appointed ref for the duel between Club Brugge and KRC Genk. The 31-year-old ref is leading Club's match for the 23rd time and Racing's 21st. Club's 11 previous home matches with Visser as ref ended in 8 wins, 1 draw and 2 defeats. KRC Genk's 10 previous away matches under him finished at 3 wins, 4 draws and 3 defeats.

2 times Visser whistled a match between the two teams. These ended in a win and a draw for Club.
-> 02/04/2018 | PO1 | Club Brugge KV - KRC Genk 1 - 0
-> 03/11/2018 | JPL | KRC Genk - Club Brugge KV 1 - 1

Earlier this season, Visser whistled the home matches for Club against Sporting Charleroi (0-1) and Cercle Brugge (2-1). For KRC Genk, it will be the first match this season that Visser leads.

OTHER MATCHES THIS MATCHDAY

Fri 22/01 20:45 RSC Anderlecht - KV RS Waasland-SK Beveren
Sat 23/01 16:15 YR KV Mechelen - KAS Eupen
Sat 23/01 18:30 KV Kortrijk - Cercle Brugge KSV
Sat 23/01 18:30 K. Sint-Truidense VV - R. Excel Mouscron
Sat 23/01 20:45 R. Antwerp FC - KV Oostende
Sun 24/01 16:00 SV Zulte Waregem - K. Beerschot VA
Sun 24/01 18:15 R. Standard de Liège - Sp. du Pays de Charleroi
Sun 24/01 20:45 Oud-Heverlee Leuven - KAA Gent