RSC Anderlecht - Club Brugge: the Club Facts

THE MATCH

It is the 174th confrontation in First Division between the two teams. The 86 previous league games in Anderlecht ended on 11 wins (last time 1-2 on 19/01/2020), 27 draws (last time 2-2 on 24/02/2019) and 48 defeats (last time 1-0 on 15/04/2018). Club is already 3 away matches in a row unbeaten in Anderlecht (2 wins and 1 draw). Blauw-Zwart is also already 7 league matches in a row unbeaten against purple-white (6 wins and 1 draw).

Earlier this season, Club secured a big 3-0 victory against RSCA. In the 23rd minute, Krépin Diatta punished ball loss in the Anderlecht defense. The 2nd half had barely kicked off when Ruud Vormer was foully stopped in the penalty area. Hans Vanaken converted the penalty. In the closing stages, the Dutch captain put the 3-0 final score on the board after a wonderful free kick. With Anderlecht and Club, the 2 best defending clubs of First Division face each other. RSCA is the best defending home team of the Jupiler Pro League with 10 goals against. Club is the best defending away team with only 9 goals against. Should Club not lose Sunday, it is already unbeaten for 12 away matches in a row. The last time Club remained unbeaten for at least 12 matches on the road was 16.5 years ago when it did not lose 14 away matches in a row between February and November 2004. The Club record is 21 away matches without defeat between August 1993 and October 1994.

THE OPPONENT

Purple White is on a good run in the Jupiler Pro League with a 10 out of 12. As a result, it jumped back to the 4th spot last weekend over KV Oostende, which seems to be the only remaining competitor for a spot in Play-Off 1. On Easter Monday, RSCA scored a fine victory on the Royal Antwerp field (1-4). After the break, Nmecha missed a penalty kick, but then Ashimero, Murillo, Ait El Hadj and Verschaeren helped equalize their biggest win of the season.

Vincent Kompany's team took a 31 out of 48 at home. Only Club Brugge kept more points at home. Purplewhite won at home against STVV (3-1), Cercle Brugge (2-0), Antwerp (1-0), KRC Gek (1-0), KV Oostende (2-1), Beerschot (2-0), Sporting Charleroi (3-0) and Zulte Waregem (4-1) and played draw against Mouscron (1-1), Eupen (1-1), OHL (2-2), Standard (0-0), Waasland-Beveren (0-0), AA Gent (0-0) and KV Mechelen (1-1). It lost only 1 home match against KV Kortrijk (0-2).

Last winter, the likes of Landy Dimata [RCD Espanyol], Peter Zulj [Göztepe], Antoine Colassin [SV Zulte Waregem], Ognjen Vranjes [Sporting Charleroi], Mustapha Bundu [FC Copenhagen], Michel Vlap [Arminia Bielefeld] and Zakaria Bakkali [Beerschot VA] left the club on loan. Furthermore, the leases of Percy Tau [Brighton FC] and Derrick Luckassen [PSV Eindhoven] were terminated.

Purple and white reinforced themselves with ex-Club Brugge attacker Abdoulay Diaby [rented from Sporting Lisbon]. Further arrivals included:
-> defender Lucas Lissens [own youth].
-> midfielder Majeed Ashimeru [rented from RB Salzburg], Mario Stroeykens [own youth].
-> striker Jacob Bruun Larsen [rented from TSG Hoffenheim].

RSC Anderlecht has a starting eleven with an average age of 23.4 years, which is the youngest in First Division. Top marksman Lukas Nmecha can play his 30th league match of the season for purple and white. He already hit 13 goals for the club from the capital. Adrien Trebel needed only 723 minutes to become Anderlecht's assist king. He put a teammate on the way to a goal 5 times already this season.

MECHELE

Brandon Mechele can play his 200th league match for Club Brugge. For Nabil Dirar it could be his 120th, for Sobol his 50th. Ruud Vormer can then again finish his 310th official match for Club. He can also play his 230th league match. Mats Rits can play the 120th match for Club. For Tahith Chong, it could be the 10th match. Simon Mignolet may be between the posts for the 125th time in First Division (66 for STVV and 59 for Club).

THE REFEREE

Lawrence Visser was designated ref for the topper. The VAR on duty will be Bram Van Driessche. The 31-year-old Visser is leading both Sporting Anderlecht and Club Brugge's 24th official match. 11 previous away matches of Club with him as ref ended in 3 wins, 8 draws and 0 defeats. Visser led 13 previous home matches of Anderlecht. Those ended in 6 wins, 2 draws and 5 defeats.

This season, Visser whistled Club's home matches against Sporting Charleroi (0-1), Cercle Brugge (2-1) and KRC Genk (3-2). For Anderlecht, he had to guide the home matches against STVV (3-1) and KV Kortrijk (0-2) and the away matches against Waasland-Beveren (2-4) and Sporting Charleroi (1-0).

2 times previously Visser whistled a duel between the two clubs:
06/05/2018 | PO1 | Club Brugge - RSC Anderlecht 1 - 2
19/01/2020 | JPL | RSC Anderlecht - Club Brugge 1 - 2

OTHER MATCHES THIS MATCHDAY:

Fri 09/04 20:45 KAS Eupen - R. Standard de Liège
Sat 10/04 16:15 Cercle Brugge KSV - Oud-Heverlee Leuven
Sat 10/04 18:30 YR KV Mechelen - SV Zulte Waregem
Sat 10/04 20:45 KAA Gent - Sp. du Pays de Charleroi
Sun 11/04 13:30 KRC Genk - K. Sint-Truidense VV
Sun 11/04 16:00 KV RS Waasland-SK Beveren - KV Kortrijk
Sun 11/04 20:45 K. Beerschot VA - KV Oostende
Mon 12/04 20:45 R. Excel Mouscron - R. Antwerp FC