🏏 Sat, 19 Sep 2026 20:00 CEST
Ajax
vs
Excelsior
4-3-3 vs 4-3-3
Substitutes
Substitutes
Match Preview
- Only three points separate these sides heading into matchday seven. Ajax sit fourth on 13 points from six games (4W-1D-1L, +12 goal difference), while Excelsior are seventh on 10 (3W-1D-2L, +6). With PSV and AZ tied at the top on 16 and Feyenoord third on 14, Ajax cannot afford a slip at home if they want to stay in touch at the summit.
- Ajax have been ruthless going forward, scoring 19 goals in six matches. They hammered Willem II 5-1 at home on matchday three, won 4-0 at Telstar on matchday four and struck five at Fortuna Sittard in a 5-1 away victory last time out. Their only defeat came at home to PSV (1-3), and the 2-2 draw with Heerenveen also came in Amsterdam — a curious pattern for a side so dominant on the road.
- Excelsior arrive in decent shape after beating Rotterdam neighbours Sparta 2-1 at home on matchday four and following it with a 3-0 shutout away at Willem II. They were beaten 1-2 by Utrecht at home last time and drew 2-2 at NEC Nijmegen, but their record of just seven goals conceded in six matches is identical to Ajax's — evidence of a well-drilled defensive structure.
- Youri Baas faces a club from his own past. The 23-year-old left-footed centre-back came through the Ajax academy but spent spells at Jong Ajax, Excelsior and NEC Nijmegen before establishing himself in the first team. His reading of the game and long-range distribution make him the launch point for Ajax's build-up, and he will know plenty about tonight's visitors.
- Two very different goalkeeping stories meet here. Marc-André ter Stegen, 34, spent more than a decade guarding Barcelona's goal before a loan to Girona in early 2026 and his August switch to Ajax; his footwork makes him an extra outfield option in possession. Excelsior's Stijn van Gassel, 29, was a long-serving No.1 at Helmond Sport and returned to this club after a spell at NEC Nijmegen, earning a reputation for close-range reflex saves and for organising the line in front of him.
- Ajax's front line is built around 22-year-old Israel international Oscar Gloukh, who wears the No.10 and joined from Red Bull Salzburg for around €14.75m. The two-footed attacking midfielder specialises in the final pass in tight areas. He is flanked by Denmark striker Kasper Dolberg, back at the club where he first made his name, and Ukraine winger Viktor Tsyhankov, 28, a Dynamo Kyiv product who cuts inside onto his left foot.
- The midfield battle contrasts experience against mobility. Ajax field Julian Brandt, 30, a Bundesliga veteran of Dortmund and Leverkusen, alongside 33-year-old club legend Davy Klaassen in his third spell at the club, plus 18-year-old Belgium international Jorthy Mokio, signed from Gent. Excelsior counter with 170cm Lennard Hartjes and 168cm Georgian Irakli Yegoian — small, agile ball carriers who thrive in tight spaces — supplemented by 190cm natural centre-back Rick Meissen pushed forward into midfield.
- Height is Excelsior's defensive weapon. Sweden's 192cm left-footed Casper Widell, a former captain of his country's U-16 and U-17 teams, partners 188cm Jan Plug, a 21-year-old Feyenoord academy graduate, in the middle of a back four tasked with clearing Ajax's crossing barrage. At right-back, 20-year-old Eric da Silva Moreira offers the counter-attacking outlet; schooled at St. Pauli and previously on the books at Nottingham Forest, he is an aggressive wing-back type.
- Both benches carry genuine game-changers. Ajax can turn to 197cm Nigeria striker Tolu Arokodare, Morocco's combative midfield destroyer Sofyan Amrabat and Brazilian forward Marcos Leonardo, who arrived via Benfica and Al-Hilal. Excelsior's trump card is 33-year-old Iran international Alireza Jahanbakhsh, the first Asian player to finish as top scorer in a major European league back in 2017-18, with 98 caps and 17 goals plus spells at Brighton and Feyenoord.