Preview: Mechelen vs. Gent - prediction, team news, lineups

Mechelen, meanwhile, began their campaign with a highly respectable 1-1 draw away to Club Brugge last weekend.

Match preview

Having posted three successive top seven finishes following their promotion from the second tier in 2019, Mechelen would have been disappointed to fall to 13th in the table last time out.

With the club in danger of becoming embroiled in relegation trouble, Mechelen's poor early season form led them to sack Danny Buijs after just four months in charge, with former Burnley midfielder Steven Defour replacing him in the managerial dugout.

The 52-time capped Belgian international is embarking on his first managerial role having previously worked as assistant at Mechelen, where he also recently ended his playing career, and the 35-year-old will be more than content to boast a 41% win rate from 29 games in charge so far.

Mechelen's last major honour came when winning the Belgian Cup by stunning their forthcoming opponents in the final four years ago, and Defour would dearly love to add to their trophy cabinet in his first full season in charge, even if the glory days of title wins and European Cup Winners' Cup medals from the 1980's remain a distant memory for Yellow Red Koninklijke's fanbase.

Gent, meanwhile, failed to mount a title challenge for the third consecutive campaign by finishing fifth last time out, with Hein Vanhaezebrouck hoping to achieve bigger things this season.

The 59-year-old guided the club to their only ever Belgian Pro League title in 2015 during his previous spell in charge, but they have only managed two top three finishes in the ensuing eight seasons.

However, by finishing top of the second batch of play-off teams, they managed to qualify for the Europa Conference League, in which they must defeat Polish side Pogon Szczecin to reach the final qualifying round.

Domestically, they were involved in a highly entertaining season opener against Kortijk last weekend, ultimately defeating them 3-2 to join only four other teams as opening day winners. Vanhaezebrouck will be expecting their perfect start to be maintained by securing all three points in the outskirts of Antwerp this weekend.

Mechelen Belgian Pro League form:

L

L

L

D

W

D

Mechelen form (all competitions):

L

L

D

W

L

D

Gent Belgian Pro League form:

W

W

D

W

W

W

Gent form (all competitions):

W

D

W

W

W

W

Team News

Mechelen could remain without Yonas Malede and Bas Van Den Eynden due to knocks, with Defour likely to be tempted to name the same team which earned a hard-fought point away to Club Brugge last weekend.

Talented full-back Sandy Walsh was not involved in that match, though, and could return to the matchday squad.

Gent, meanwhile, will travel without former Porto forward Laurent Depoitre due to an Achilles tendon rupture.

Gift Orban will continue to deputise for the 34-year-old in the centre of the visitors' attack, having scored his side's crucial third goal during their victory last time out.

Mechelen possible starting lineup:

Coucke; Foulon, Vanlerberghe, Lavalee, Bolingoli-Mbombo; Mukau, Schoofs; Ngoy, Mrabti, Storm; Lauberbach

Gent possible starting lineup:

Nardi; Samoise, Watanabe, Torunarigha, Castro-Montes; Hong, Kums, De Sart; Cuypers, Orban, Hjulsager

We say: Mechelen 1-1 Gent

Both sides started their seasons with positive results last weekend, with Mechelen holding one of the title favourites away from home, and Gent getting off to a winning start as they would have expected in front of their home fans.

Although the visitors will almost certainly end up finishing higher in the table than their forthcoming opponents by the end of the campaign, we can envisage them being happy to take a point home with them on Sunday.

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