Anderlecht vs Cercle Brugge Prediction: League leaders won’t drop points again

Anderlecht and Cercle Brugge meet at Lotto Park in the Jupiler Pro League Championship Group. Last weekend, both teams ended up losing against their respective opponents. How will they respond here?

Anderlecht are off a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Anderlecht, and they will come into this game confident that they will return to winning ways. In the meantime, that defeat has extended Anderlecht’s recent losses to three in five games. In other games, this side lost to Kortrijk and Club Brugge KV. However, their wins were against Antwerp and Union Saint-Gilloise. In those games, Anderlecht scored five goals while conceding seven. In the Championship Group, however, Anderlecht are seated at the top of the standings, having now accumulated 38 points.

Cercle Brugge are coming off a 0-1 loss to Antwerp last Sunday. In that game, Chidera Ejuke’s 66th-minute strike made the difference. However, that defeat will be Cercle Brugge's lone loss in as many as six games. In prior games to that defeat, Cercle Brugge were held to draws by Charleroi, Club Brugge and Genk. However, Cercle Brugge defeated RWDM and Union Saint-Gilloise in matches that ended 4-0 and 2-3, respectively. In the Championship Group, Cercle Brugge are seated 5th out of 6 teams, with 29 points overly accumulated.

Cercle Brugge won two of their last five meetings with Anderlecht. However, Anderlecht won each of their last three games. Cercle Brugge scored three goals in those games, while Anderlecht scored seven.

The two teams are not playing their best football right now, and they need to improve in attack and defense. At the moment, Anderlecht have the upper hand, as this side has won each of the past meetings of this fixture, while they also need this match more. Cercle Brugge have nothing to lose here, and with the majority of their matches ending in a draw, I do not see them stopping Anderlecht here in what should be a low-scoring affair.