Preview Lierse Kempenzonen – KVC Westerlo

Last games, there is suddenly a lot of clarity in the standings. RWDM, the team with 15 out of 15, appears to have become the biggest challenger. Lier won over Waasland-Beveren last weekend and thus seem to have knocked the Waaslanders out of the promotion place. Or did they?  We play the derby in Lier – with visiting supporters allowed for a long time – and RWDM has to visit Beveren. So, more clarity on the further competition this weekend?

Team Lier

At the turn of the year things started to rumble at ‘Lierke Plezierke’. It was suddenly not so pleasant anymore and captain Alexander Maes turned out to be the big scapegoat. Exit Maes and entrance points is the provisional balance.  In those four games played after New Year, Tom Van Imschoot’s men achieved a nice 8 out of 12. Not a single defeat was recorded. The goal difference doesn’t look that spectacular. They managed to score three goals and barely had to deal with one setback.

Could this also have something to do with the arrival of pointsetter Jens Teunckens?
The ex-Kemphaan already has 3 clean sheets in one month’s time, while his predecessor Jarno De Smet had one in four months.
For the rest, the team remained virtually unchanged and there are always 10 Belgians at the start. Besides goalie Teunckens there are 4 ex-Kemphans in the team. Schuermans, Schouterden, Swinnen and Guillaume De Schryver all have a past at De Kuipje. Although the latter had to leave the field prematurely last weekend with an injury. The same fate befell right wing Jonathan Hendrickx. Against Beveren, he had to leave the field after only one hour with an injury. We’ll have to wait and see if he will recover.
Thibaut Van Acker became the new captain. The central midfielder has been in the professional circuit for 12 years and arrived in Lier in August after a spell at Club Brugge, Beerschot, Cercle Brugge, Roeselare and MVV.
Also in defense are Jordy Gillekens and Brent Laes. Both ex-Leuvenarians who have a permanent place in this team since last season. Youth product Pieter De Schryver gets his chance at right back in recent weeks and top marksman Hakim Abdallah (7 goals) is the only foreigner in the team.

Did you know? 

  • With Schuermans, Gillekens and Laes no less than 3 defenders are on alert with 4 yellow cards.
  • De Schuer has scored twice against us? That this was each time in the Kuipje: with OHL he did this in 2019 and this season he did it again on matchday 3.
  • Like us, they score mainly in the second half, 63% of their goals came in the second half.

Team KVC Westerlo

Jonas De Roeck surprised against Mouscron. He put our 2 top scorers, Erdon Daci and Jan Bernat on the bench. They were already good for 16 goals. Central defender Rubin Seigers was also absent. He tested early in the morning, but was not 100% fit. His replacement, Guy-Serge Yameogo, did an excellent job and was in balance with Kyan Vaesen to become man of the match.
Kyan scored his fourth goal of the season, add to that 4 assists and so he arrives at the same stats as captain Lukas Van Eenoo.
Mathias Fixelles and Igor Vetokele also returned to the team. Against Deinze, Mathias was not eligible to play and Igor, after his injury and a few substitutions, made his second start. Last Monday, no less than 7 A-players came into action against the U21 of Lommel. Fernand Goure, Lorenzo Noviello and Simon Paulet scored and Mamoutou N’Diaye also appeared on the field again after a long period of inactivity. So our coach can make his choice from a broad core.
Did you know? 
  • At Westerlo we will soon come out with a version of “The Masked Kemphaan”. Curious to know which individuals have crawled into the suit? Keep an eye on our socials.
  • Tuur Dierckx went to warm up the supporters last weekend to get behind our team en masse. He handed out the team line-up on the pitch and sang, together with the players who fell by the wayside, and the supporters some well-known Westel songs.
  • The dad of Kyan Vaesen was in goal for Lierse between 2006 and 2008.
  • The same Kyan Vaesen knows all the songs of Drake by heart.

5 last mutual duels

  • 20.11.21         1-5     ⚽️Foster(2), Daci, Bernat en Seydoux
  • 04.04.21         0-0
  • 28.11.20         0-1     ⚽️Brüls

Referee

Kevin De Beuckelaere will lead this match. This will be his 15th game as a referee for us. The balance is varied. 5 wins, 5 draws and 4 losses. Those 4 defeats all came away from home. This season we have already met him twice, in Deinze (2-1) and in RWDM (0-2). Lierse Kempenzonen have not had much success with him either. In the past they got him 5 times as a match leader, only once did they get points. This season a draw in a match in their own stadium against Mouscron (2-2).

Text and statistics: Peter Boons

RECENT NEWS

RANKING

Team Pnt
Antwerp 27
KRC Genk 22
Club Brugge 19
OH Leuven 17
Standard 16
Union 16
KAA Gent 14
Anderlecht 13
STVV 13
Charleroi 12
KVC Westerlo 12
KV Mechelen 11
KV Oostende 12
KV Kortrijk 7
KAS Eupen 6
RFC Seraing 6
Cercle Brugge 6
Zulte Waregem 5

PARTNERS

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Privacy Beleid • Cookie Policy