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FC Den Bosch and Almere City FC meet again on Wednesday evening, 29 April 2026, with a place in the next phase of the VriendenLoterij Eredivisie relegation/promotion playoffs on the line. This is the kind of tie that tightens every nerve. One side is trying to claw its way into the top flight conversation, the other is trying to survive it. There’s no room for drift now.
The sides actually know each other well by this point. They met on 6 April, when FC Den Bosch went to Almere and came away with a 2-1 win, and they’re back at it just over three weeks later. That recent meeting matters, because it wasn’t a one-off oddity. Den Bosch have had a habit of upsetting Almere in this matchup, and the pressure of a playoff tie only sharpens that edge.
Both teams arrive with recent wins and recent defeats, which is exactly what you’d expect from two sides still trying to find consistency at the business end of the season. FC Den Bosch are at home this time, which gives Ulrich Landvreugd’s side a bit of natural confidence. Almere City, under Jeroen Rijsdijk, will know they need a cleaner, tougher showing than they produced away to VVV-Venlo last time out. This won’t be a stroll. It probably won’t be pretty either.
FC Den Bosch’s recent run has had a bit of everything. They were beaten 3-1 at home by ADO Den Haag on 24 April, a game that never really settled in their favour once the visitors started to find space. Before that, they had to settle for a 1-1 draw at home to Jong FC Utrecht, and that followed a messy 4-2 defeat away to TOP Oss. Go back one more match and you find a goalless draw with SC Cambuur, which at least gave them a clean sheet to cling to — rare enough, as it turned out.
There was better in the two games before that. Den Bosch went to Almere on 6 April and won 2-1, a result that still stands out in this matchup. They also scored three times away at RKC Waalwijk and won 3-2 on 21 March, which tells you something about their ability to hurt teams when the game opens up. That’s the strange thing about Den Bosch right now: they’ve been hard to pin down. They can be ragged at the back, but they’re not short of belief in attack.
At home, though, the picture is a bit more complicated. The most recent two games at their ground brought just one point and four goals conceded. They’ve now gone four matches without a win overall, and they haven’t kept a clean sheet in six. That’s a worrying run for a team heading into a knockout-style tie. Still, they’ve scored in six straight matches and the last meeting with Almere ended in a 2-1 win for them. If you’re looking for a side that’s likely to at least get on the board, Den Bosch are it. They don’t shut many doors, but they usually find one themselves.
The attacking numbers fit that story. A side scoring regularly, conceding regularly, and living on momentum rather than control. That can work in a one-off playoff environment, especially at home, but it also leaves them exposed if the match tilts against them. Landvreugd will want more control than they’ve shown lately. That said, asking Den Bosch to become a tidy, low-risk side overnight feels unrealistic. They’re more likely to make this a scrap. And scrappy matches tend to drag both defences into trouble.
Almere City’s recent form looks similar on the surface, but the details matter. They were beaten 3-1 away to VVV-Venlo on 24 April, and that was a step back after a convincing 4-1 home win over FC Dordrecht. Before that came a 2-1 loss at Willem II Tilburg, another game where they scored but couldn’t quite protect themselves. Their earlier home meeting with Den Bosch ended in a 2-1 defeat, which is the result they’ll be desperate to overturn here.
Zoom out and the pattern is clear enough. Almere have won two and lost two of their last four, with the wins coming against FC Dordrecht and TOP Oss, and the defeats coming on the road at VVV-Venlo and Willem II. They beat Jong Ajax 2-0 away on 20 March, so this isn’t a side that simply folds on its travels. Still, the away story has been shaky lately. They’ve lost their last two road games, and both times they allowed the opposition to land enough clean punches to decide the contest.
The bigger issue is defensive reliability. Almere have now gone five matches without a clean sheet, and they’ve been involved in five straight games in which both teams have scored. That’s not just a quirk. It’s become part of their identity. They’ll score, or at least create enough to threaten, but they’re giving something back far too often. Their 3-1 loss at VVV-Venlo was a good example: they had five shots on target, matched the hosts for big chances, and still came away empty-handed. The final scoreline told the truth. They were in the game, then they weren’t.
Jeroen Rijsdijk will know exactly what needs fixing. Almere can’t keep going into these matches with that same open-door feel at the back. On the positive side, they do carry a threat and they’ve scored in all of their last five. That matters. They’re not a team waiting around for luck. They can create, and they can punish sloppy defending. But if they allow Den Bosch to dictate the tempo early, the home side will happily drag them into a chaotic contest. That’s where Almere tend to look vulnerable.
This is a fixture with some recent bite to it. Den Bosch’s 2-1 win in Almere on 6 April came hot on the heels of a 5-2 home rout in November 2025, and those two results sit inside a broader pattern that hasn’t been especially kind to Almere. The immediate edge belongs to Den Bosch, and that’ll matter a lot for the psychology of this playoff tie.
The meetings usually produce action. Four of the last five between these sides have seen both teams score, and Den Bosch haven’t lost to Almere in four straight head-to-heads. That’s a useful little thread for the hosts, because it suggests they know how to unsettle this opponent. Almere will want to break that habit quickly. If they don’t, the evening could slip away from them again.
We’re backing Both Teams To Score at 2/5 for this one. It’s short, no doubt about it, but it’s still the strongest angle on the board. These two sides have been living dangerously for weeks. Den Bosch have scored in six straight matches and haven’t kept a clean sheet in six. Almere City have scored in five straight and also come into this one without a shutout in five. That’s a clean enough case.
The recent head-to-heads point the same way, too. Den Bosch won the last meeting 2-1 in Almere and the November clash finished 5-2 to the hosts. You’re not dealing with a matchup that tends to settle down and protect itself. Quite the opposite. Add in the playoff pressure and the fact that both teams have shown they can create chances even when they’re not controlling games, and BTTS feels like the natural play. A 2-1 home win is the most plausible scoreline. Den Bosch have the slight edge, especially with home turf and that recent head-to-head momentum.
If you want a bolder angle, Over 2.5 Goals has a case too, but BTTS still feels safer. One goal for each side looks the floor here, not the ceiling.
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