Excelsior vs Twente Prediction

How both sides have been playing

Looking at the last 20 matches for each club across all competitions, Twente have won 12, drawn 4 and lost 4, scoring 45 and conceding 23 along the way. That's a decent return, though it includes cup and friendly fixtures as well as league games, so it's a broad snapshot rather than a pure league record.

Excelsior: 20 completed matches; Twente: 20 completed matches.

Excelsior

20 matches

Win

55% 11 / 20

Draw

25% 5 / 20

Loss

20% 4 / 20

Scored

49

Conceded

28

Difference

+21

Twente

20 matches

Win

60% 12 / 20

Draw

20% 4 / 20

Loss

20% 4 / 20

Scored

51

Conceded

23

Difference

+28

Excelsior's equivalent sample shows 11 wins, 5 draws and 4 losses, with 49 scored and 28 conceded. They've found goals too, but they've also been a bit leakier at the back than Twente over the same stretch.

Both sides have scored freely in this run, but Twente have generally kept things tighter defensively.

Comparative Team Statistics: Excelsior vs Twente

A fixture with no clear pattern

The head-to-head history between these two stretches back well over a decade, and it swings around a lot. The most recent meeting finished 0-0, before that Excelsior won 1-0 at home, and the game before that Twente won 3-0 away. There's also a 4-2 Twente win and a couple of goalless draws scattered through the record.

None of that old history tells us much about the current squads, but it does suggest this fixture doesn't always go the way the league table might predict.

Where they sit right now

Twente are currently fourth with 16 points from seven games, having won five, drawn one and lost one. Excelsior sit seventh on 11 points, with three wins, two draws and two defeats from the same number of matches.

Both have scored 15 goals, but Twente have conceded fewer, which lines up with the tighter defensive numbers we saw in their recent form.

Players to watch

Wout Weghorst has been Twente's main source of goals, with four in his last seven appearances. For Excelsior, Anis Sliti leads the way with three goals in the same number of games, while Ilyas Yegoian has been the standout creator, setting up five assists in seven matches.

Excelsior:

Best scorers:

A. Sliti - 3

Best assist providers:

I. Yegoian - 5

S. Janssen - 3

Penalty cards:

J. Plug x 2

Twente:

Best scorers:

W. Weghorst - 4

Best assist providers:

Y. Taha - 2

Sem Janssen has also chipped in with three assists for Excelsior, and Yassine Taha has offered a bit of creative support for Twente. Jurgen Plug has picked up two yellow cards in his last seven games, which is worth keeping an eye on, though there's nothing here confirming availability for this specific fixture.

How it might play out

Twente go into this with the better league position and a slightly tighter defensive record, plus a dependable scorer in Weghorst. That lines up with their current table standing above Excelsior.

But the head-to-head record shows this fixture rarely runs to form, and Excelsior have shown they can score goals too, with Yegoian pulling the strings. Given Excelsior's home form has included both big wins and leaky defeats, this doesn't look like a one-way contest.