KV Mechelen 0:1 Anderlecht: Jupiler Pro League Match Result

Match report

Anderlecht claimed a 1-0 victory over Mechelen in the Jupiler Pro League's sixth round at the AFAS Stadium on Thursday evening. The result was decided by a single moment in the forty-third minute, when Tawfik Bentayeb found the net to extend his side's unbeaten run to eight games.

And here's the thing — the opening chapter of the match was already shaped by a substitution at the half-hour mark. Giulian Biancone came off at thirty-seven minutes, and by then the visitors had begun to control the tempo. Bentayeb's goal arrived just six minutes later, and the home side never quite recovered their footing.

There were six yellow cards on the night, none of them altering the balance of play. Biancone went off first, followed by Omobamidele forty minutes in, then Koutsoupias at sixty. Mechelen's Hammar and Petrot were booked in the second half, while Vanderbiest picked up his card in stoppage time. The substitutions came in clusters — three for Anderlecht at seventy-two, two for Mechelen at seventy-four and seventy-five, and the rest spread through the closing stages.

The statistics tell a familiar story. Anderlecht held two-thirds of possession and launched ninety-two attacks against Mechelen's fifty-eight. They completed four hundred and eighty-four passes to their opponents' one hundred and seventy-four. Yet shots accuracy sat at twenty-one percent for the visitors, and they created only one big chance. Mechelen registered three but converted nothing.

What matters now is the table. Anderlecht sit seventh with ten points after six games, while Mechelen remain fifteenth with just two. The visitors have nothing to lose heading into their next fixtures, but the home side are running out of games to turn things around.

Prepared from match data

Key numbers

Possession, % 34 – 66

Shots on target 4 – 3

Shots off target 6 – 6

Big chances 3 – 1

🟨 5' Giulian Biancone — Yellow card ⇄ 37' Giulian Biancone — Substitution 🟨 40' Andrew Omobamidele — Yellow card ⚽ 43' Tawfik Bentayeb — Goal 🟨 60' Ilias Koutsoupias — Yellow card ⇄ 72' Danylo Sikan — Substitution ⇄ 72' Ilias Koutsoupias — Substitution ⇄ 72' Oliver Antman — Substitution ⇄ 74' Marco Decherf — Substitution ⇄ 75' Simion Michez — Substitution 🟨 80' Fredrik Hammar — Yellow card ⇄ 81' Mike Eerdhuijzen — Substitution ⇄ 82' Bouke Boersma — Substitution 🟨 82' Leo Petrot — Yellow card ⇄ 88' Dennis Praet — Substitution 🟨 90+3' Frederik Vanderbiest — Yellow card

Match events

5' 0:0 Anderlecht Yellow card Giulian Biancone
37' 0:0 Anderlecht Substitution Giulian Biancone off: Andrew Omobamidele
40' 0:0 Anderlecht Yellow card Andrew Omobamidele
43' 0:1 Anderlecht Goal Tawfik Bentayeb assist: Ilias Koutsoupias
60' 0:1 Anderlecht Yellow card Ilias Koutsoupias
72' 0:1 Anderlecht Substitution Danylo Sikan off: Tristan Degreef
72' 0:1 Anderlecht Substitution Ilias Koutsoupias off: Romeo Amane
72' 0:1 Anderlecht Substitution Oliver Antman off: Thelo Aasgaard
74' 0:1 KV Mechelen Substitution Marco Decherf off: Benito Raman
75' 0:1 KV Mechelen Substitution Simion Michez off: Bill Leeroy Antonio
80' 0:1 KV Mechelen Yellow card Fredrik Hammar
81' 0:1 KV Mechelen Substitution Mike Eerdhuijzen off: Cedric Van Meirvenne
82' 0:1 KV Mechelen Substitution Bouke Boersma off: Malcolm Bendele Lohunanu-Mbasi
82' 0:1 Anderlecht Yellow card Leo Petrot
88' 0:1 KV Mechelen Substitution Dennis Praet off: Bilal Bafdili
90+3' 0:1 KV Mechelen Yellow card Frederik Vanderbiest

Statistics

34 Possession, % 66

4 Shots on target 3

6 Shots off target 6

3 Big chances 1

58 Attacks 92

9 Corners 5

13 Fouls 21

20 Free kicks 12

2 Offsides 0

1 Yellow cards 4

0 Red cards 0

9 Goal kicks 5

19 Throw-ins 16

All statistics

24/4455% Aerial duels 20/4445%

35 Backward passes 76

4 Blocked shots 5

16 Clearances 34

10/3330% Crosses 4/1527%

2/450% Dribbles 8/1457%

77 Failed passes 67

2 Goalkeeper saves 4

10 Interceptions 10

10 Key passes 11

25/5942% Long passes 15/3642%

59 Passes into the final third 114

181 Passes in the opposition half 352

103 Passes in own half 214

0.29 Shot accuracy 0.21

4 Shots from outside the box 5

10 Shots inside the box 9

5/1338% Tackles 9/1369%

251 Total passes 551

Line-ups

KV Mechelen

Starting XI
#	Player	number
13	Ignacio Mirás Blanco	13
2	Luc Marijnissen	2
3	José Martínez Marsà	3
44	Mike Eerdhuijzen	44
6	Fredrik Hammar	6
7	Thérence Ange Koudou	7
23	Simion Michez	23
26	Dennis Pierre Jacques Albert Praet	26
30	M. Deschaff	30
9	Myron van Brederode	9
28	B. Bursma	28

Substitutes
#	Player	number
1	Ortwin De Wolf	1
20	Kobe Korbanian	20
10	Maxim Kireev	10
11	B. Bafdili	11
39	M. Dekun	39
14	Benito Dirk Raman	14
17	Cedric Jan Van Mevenne	17
19	Malcolm Lohunanu-Mbasi	19
21	Halil Özdemir	21
38	Bill Leeroy Antonio	38

Show full squad

Anderlecht

Starting XI
#	Player	number
26	Colin Coosemans	26
4	Giulian Biancone	4
6	Hans Carl Ludwig Augustinsson	6
27	Léo Pétrot	27
79	Ali Maamar	79
10	Marten Winkler	10
11	Oliver Antman	11
30	Ilias Koutsoupias	30
55	Marco Kana	55
14	Danylo Sikan	14
21	Tawfik Bentayeb	21

Substitutes
#	Player	number
32	Justin Heekeren	32
12	Andrew Omobamidele	12
8	Romeo Amane	8
19	Thelo Gerard Aasgaard	19
24	Enric Llansana	24
53	Noah Thomas O'Hea Cobella	53
61	Joshua-Williame Nga Kana	61
83	T. Degreef	83
9	Mihajlo Cvetković	9

Show full squad

Match prediction: KV Mechelen — Anderlecht

Win: Anderlecht

Confidence 43%

Reasoning

Мехелен — 15. place, 2 points after 5 games (0 wins, 2 draws, 3 losses)
Андерлехт — 11. place, 7 points after 5 games (2 wins, 1 draws, 2 losses)
Мехелен, last 5 games: 0 wins, 2 draws, 3 losses
Андерлехт, last 5 games: 3 wins, 1 draws, 1 losses
Head-to-head: 10 games, Мехелен — 2, 2 draws, Андерлехт — 6

Full prediction

Analytical content. Not a call to gamble. 18+

Recent form

KV Mechelen

DLDLLD

Recent matches

All team matches

Anderlecht

LWDWLW

Recent matches

All team matches

#	Team	P	W	D	L	Points
1	Union Saint-Gilloise	7	6	1	0	19
2	Gent	7	6	1	0	19
3	Charleroi	7	6	0	1	18
4	Club Brugge KV	6	5	0	1	15
5	Anderlecht	7	4	1	2	13
6	Zulte Waregem	7	3	2	2	11
7	Standard Liege	7	3	2	2	11
8	KVC Westerlo	7	3	1	3	10
9	Waasland-Beveren	7	3	0	4	9
10	Genk	7	2	3	2	9

KV Mechelen — Anderlecht, Jupiler Pro League

Match report

Key numbers

Match events

Statistics

Line-ups

KV Mechelen

Anderlecht

Match prediction: KV Mechelen — Anderlecht

Reasoning

Recent form

KV Mechelen

Anderlecht