 Ajax
Ajax finished third place last season failing to grab a ticket for the Champions League qualifiers being one point away from the second place after a very poor finish of the season leading to the dismissal of Marco Van Basten. The team welcomed a new team manager in the likes of Martin Jol coming over from Hamburger SV and much is expected from the former Spurs coach. Ajax saw one of their best defenders leave with Vermaelen (def) moving to Arsenal but Jol took along Atoube (def) from Hamburger SV to strengthen the defense with Ajax still looking for a central defender.
Ajax played two friendly games in their England campaign last week booking victories over Southampton (1-4) and Bristol City (0-4) with the team performing above expectations and Suarez (att) being given the role of captain for the new season. With two more serious tests before the new season – competing in the Amsterdam Tournament against Sunderland, Athletico Madrid and Benfica - Ajax will be looking to secure their first title in six years after their last success in the season 2003/2004 and to grab their 30th national title allowing them to wear that much desired third star on their jerseys. Ajax will have a difficult start of the season playing on the road to FC Groningen and PSV in their first games, but if the team will be able to start the season with some good results and get in the winning mood early on, I feel this might just be year for Ajax to finish on top of the table.
Prediction: Champions
 PSV
PSV finished on the fourth place last season finishing quite strongly after a very disappointing start of the season. Team manager Stevens was dismissed during the winter break and with Lodeweges taking over as interim manager, PSV booked some more than decent results and even competed for a place in the Champions League play-offs. The team welcomed some important new players with Ooijer (def) being signed from Blackburn Rovers and Engelaar (mid) from Schalke 04. Jason Culina (mid) decided to continue his carreer in his homeland Australia and apart from the midfielder PSV has managed to keep almost their entire first eleven together for the next season.
During their friendly matches during the summer PSV was not severely tested but managed to book seven wins and a draw with the team grabbing three wins agains more serious opponents in their last three games against Brondby IF (1-2), RC Genk (0-1) and Sivasspor (3-0). PSV will be starting the season with a home game against VVV Venlo and it seems there is no better way to start the season with a relatively easy home game. I think that the championship will be decided between PSV and Ajax this season, and I rate PSV to come in second this year.
Prediction: 2nd place
 AZ Alkmaar
The champions of last year AZ will again be looking for a good result this season with Ronald Koeman being assigned as new team manager after the departure of Louis Van Gaal to Bayern München. The team grabbed the first championship in over thirty years with El Hamdaoui (att) being crowned Eredivisie top goal scorer with 23 goals. A lot of rumours have been going round about the future of El Hamdoui (att) and Dembele (att) with both players being desired by many clubs during the last part of the season but things have been quiet on the transfer market lately. Midfielder Wernbloom was signed from Goteburg IK which is basicly the only reinforcement for the starting eleven so far. Former team captain De Zeeuw (mid) will most likely leave the club over the summer trying to force his way into a transfer to Ajax.
During the friendly games AZ hardly managed to impress so far being able to book some good results against amateur teams, but in their last two games against Hamburger SV (0-1) and Club Brugge (1-0) AZ did not manage to find the net. Being the defending champion may put some pressure on the team and with Van Gaal leaving to Germany, it will be hard to see AZ repeat their trick from last season.
Prediction: 3rd place
 FC Twente
Finishing on the second place in the ranking team manager McLaren knew an excellent debute in his carreer as a Dutch coach with FC Twente grabbing a ticket for the Champions League play-offs at the expense of Ajax. FC Twente will be aiming to ge back on track where they left of last season and the first test of the new season will be against Sporting Lisbon trying to secure a place in the final round of the Champions League. Unfortunately for FC Twente the club saw two of their best players leave to Germany with Braafheid (def) signing a contract with Bayern München and Elia (att) leaving to Hamburger SV. The third player that will most likely not wear the red jersey next year is Arnautovic (att), being desired by Internazionale and a transfer to Italy will be the most likely option over the summer.
FC Twente signed some new players as well with Parker (att) coming over from Thanda Royal Zulu (SAf) after playing an impressive tournament with South Africa for the Confederations Cup. Four other forwards were added to the selection but failed to impress yet with FC Twente managing to score only five goals in their last five games against AA Gent, Schalke 04, FC Zwolle, Bor. Mönchengladbach and Swansea City suffering two defeats and booking one draw. After a terrific season last year I can not see them repeat this trick as opponents will be warned this season and the fact that Elia, Braafheid and Arnautovic won’t be playing for FC Twente anymore will make a huge difference and I foresee them competing for the fourth place with Feyenoord next season.
Prediction: 4th place
RKC Waalwijk
After finishing on the second place in the Jupiler League last season RKC Waalwijk automatically grabbed a place in the promotion/relegation play-offs where they reached the Eredivisie by beating De Graafschap in the final round. RKC Waalwijk will be working with the lowest budget in the Eredivisie next season and despite the promotion, there is not much money for reinforcements. The only new player so far is Boerrigter (att) with the striker being taken over from FC Zwolle. Zwarthoed (gk) and Snoyl (mid) decided to seek their fortune elsewhere and looking at the selection it’s becoming pretty obvious that RKC Waalwijk will be one of the main candidates for relegation next season.
During their friendly games the team hugely disappointed booking a win over the amateurs of FC Oss (1-3) but failing to win their games against the amateurs of JVC Cuijck (1-1) and FC Eindhoven (0-0) and losing against Jupiler League team FC Dordrecht (3-2). RKC Waalwijk will be playing their first four games of the season against FC Utrecht (home), Ajax (away), AZ (home) and FC Twente (away) and I can’t see them picking up many points during these games.
Prediction: Relegation candidate #1 $2.70 (Unibet)
 Willem II
An outsider for relegation at first sight, but first impressions can be deceiving and we should not underestimate Willem II a as relegation candidate this season. Despite finishing on the 12th place in the ranking the team was only seven points clear of the relegation zone and the team played far from great. Van Eijden (def) and Messoudi (mid) are two first eleven players that won’t be part of the selection next season while regular substitutes Muhamadu (att), Vorthoren (att), Nieuwendaal (mid), Wau (def) and Matthijsen (mid) left the club over the summer looking for opportunities elsewhere.
During the friendly games over the summer Willem II booked some very poor results losing from Ajax Cape Town (4-1), KV Mechelen (2-0) and PAOK Saloniki (0-2) and drawing against Go Ahead Eagles (0-0). Scoring only five times against a team from a local newspaper also was hugely disappointing and the team won’t be starting the season with the most confidence. Willem II seems a candidate for the relegation play-offs or slightly above and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them in the lower regions of the ranking at the end of the season.
Prediction: Relegation candidate Outsider $12.50 (Unibet)
 NEC
Maybe far from being a candidate for relegation and to be honest purely a value bet, but at a price of $50.00 might change your mind to consider NEC as a candidate for relegation. NEC finished on the 11th place last season but the team gave away a place in the European play-offs after the winter break, tumbling down in the ranking after the news came out that Been would leave to Feyenoord. Although it has always been denied that this news was the cause of the poor results Been did manage to keep his team on the right track with also quite some internal problems. A long list of players have left the club over the summer with the starting eleven of NEC being changed quite a bit. With team manager Been leaving to Feyenoord taking along Fernandez (def), Janssen (att) moving to Denmark, Koenders (def), John (att), Bouaouzan (att) and Rommedahl (att) returning to their clubs after being loaned for a season, NEC will miss five regular starting eleven players. Add the fact that the preparation period hasn't been great and the team won’t have the most easy start in the competition and the fact that the second part of the season 2008/2009 simply was horrific from time to time, odds around $50.00 are too good to miss.
Prediction: Relegation candidate Outsider $50.00 (Unibet)
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