This is a battle between 2 Eerste Divisie teams who have both been in good form recently. FC Eindhoven have only lost 1 of their last 5 contests whilst Excelsior are unbeaten in 8 overall. The hosts have found their goalscoring boots recently thanks to respective 4-3 and 4-1 wins, although a defeat on Friday, 3-1 at home to Venlo, was a setback. In Sven Blummel and Boris van Schuppen they have a pair of attackers who are huge threats to both score and assist goals.

Excelsior are the odds-on favourites to win this game because they are 1 of the top teams in the Eerste Divisie. They sit at the summit of the standings in the Dutch 2nd tier but that in itself could mean they place more of a priority on the league than the cup this season. They have put a lot of effort into this unbeaten 8-match run so on this occasion the shackles might come off, pressure reduced and we see this side start to score goals again.

Excelsior have only scored 3 goals in their last 4 matches but this cup match is an ideal time to find some rhythm. Facing an FC Eindhoven team who have been playing well, this match should go over 2.5 goals as both teams attempt to make it through to the next round.What

Eredivisie side Fortuna Sittard are the favourites against 3rd division opponents Quick Boys, but this could be a potential banana skin. The home side are an amateur unit but top of the Tweede Division, a league which has no promotion for any non-B teams.

They have won 12 out of 17 matches suffering just 1 defeat and average 2.5 goals per game. This is a team that shouldn’t be overlooked and have already claimed 1 top division scalp by beating Almere City in the previous round, 3-0. On that occasion they were big 4.25 underdogs so cannot be treated lightly.

They face a Sittard side who have been in good form though, and who might fancy a strong cup run themselves. The visitors have lost just 2 out of 12 games and should be confident enough heading into the fixture. They recently held Feyenoord 1-1 away so they are no mugs and just beat RKC Waalwijk 3-2, at the weekend. Sittard have conceded 10 goals in their last 6 games so there is hope for Quick Boys that they can pull off a shock. This should be an open cup match where the Eredivisie side show their quality. Over 2.5 goals looks like the best route overall with both teams likely to contribute.

RKC could perhaps use some cup distraction. They’ve been in very poor form with just 1 league win so far this season and already 6 points adrift of even the play-off position.

They are an Eerste Divisie side in all but name so this might be a close contest. No team has a worse defensive record in the Dutch top-flight than RKC and they’ve conceded 40 goals in 16 games. They have at least scored 17 times and possess a serviceable offense which should do alright against a second tier side. Despite that, it would be difficult to trust them as an odds-on shot here around the 1.83 mark.

Cambuur had a very slow start to the season but have rebounded well in the last couple of months. They head into this game having won 7 of their last 9 games and the key has been an improvement in front of goal. They smashed Vitesse 6-0 on the road and in total have netted 13 times in their last 5 league games. Michael de Leeuw and Remco Balk have found some form and they could spring a shock here.

This was an Eredivisie fixture in the 2022/23 season and both meetings were high scoring, 4-0 and 5-1 respectively. Something similar could occur again especially with both teams loosening up in the cup. Taking over 2.5 goals looks like a decent option overall.