Senegal vs. Netherlands Betting Tips: Follow Frenkie de Jong in the Passes market

Senegal take on The Netherlands in Group B on Monday and our man @DeanWoodward has provided us with his best bets for the occasion

The second day of the World Cup 2022 is upon us, with the second game of the day heading to the Al-Thumama stadium with a 16:00 kick off UK time, where Senegal face Netherlands in Group A.

The Senegal national side head to Qatar for their third ever World Cup with their first in their history coming back in 2002 where they reached the quarter-finals. Senegal qualified for the World Cup 2022 in solid fashion, winning their group unbeaten and going on to defeat Egypt in the final on penalties. 

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The huge news for Senegal is that ballon d’or runner up, Sadio Mane, has been removed from the team due to injury. This is a massive blow for the African side, losing their best player, but still have some big names likely to start such as Kalidou Koulibaly, Idrissa Gueye and Ismaila Sarr who still give them hope of making it through to the knock-out stages. 

Netherlands are set to appear in their 11th World Cup, looking to go one better than their best ever finish of runners up on three occasions, most recently in 2010. The Netherlands enter this tournament in great form, topping their qualifying group with only one defeat and going unbeaten in their last thirteen competitive matches, including victories over Belgium on two occasions. 

The big news from the Netherlands camp is that talisman Memphis Depay is ruled out due to still recovering from a thigh injury, hoping to recover ready for the rest of the group games. Main men Virgil Van Dijk and Frenkie De Jong both look set start and bolster the core of the Dutch side.

After Euro2020, Netherlands parted ways with Frank De Boer and appointed Louis van Gaal to take back over the reigns of the national side. Louis van Gaal is known for his strict 4-3-3 formation and his possession based football, always aiming to bring an attractive style of play to the fans. However, in his current spell as Netherlands coach, he has often played a back three which is completely against his philosophy.

Frenkie De Jong will look to be that anchor in the centre of the park where he could rack up a lot of passes. Since van Gaal has taken back the reins, Frenkie has made ten starts, clearing this line with ease seven times, twice being subbed at half time with fifty-two and forty-seven passes, above and beyond clearing this line if he was to play more than forty-five minutes.

With the pass lines looking so generous, I have also backed the higher lines for a smaller stake.

With De Jong likely to have cleared the 5/6 line in nine of his ten starts under van Gaal, he has also racked up enough to attack this high line also. Of the ten starts, he has cleared this line on six occasions (60%) and would have also gone well above and beyond this line in the two starts he got subbed at half time. If he manages to stay on the pitch for the majority of the game, I expect this line to go very close.

@DeanWoodward93 BettingOddsUK 2022 Profit/Loss +31.7u / 52% ROI

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